New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS): India kicked off their International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship Rifle/Pistol campaign in Cairo, Egypt, with a bronze in the Women's 25m Pistol Team Junior competition.
The trio of Esha Singh, Naamya Kapoor and Vibhuti Bhatia demolished team Germany 17-1 in the bronze medal match, to get India on the board on day one of competition itself, at the Egypt International Olympic City (EIOC) shooting range.
Esha, Naamya and Vibhuti finished fourth in the first round of qualification with a score of 856 to make it to the next stage in third position. In the next round they shot 437 to finish behind the Germans in fourth position to qualify for the bronze medal match. China won the gold in the event while Korea won silver.
In the day's other results, Nishchal shot 616.9 and Nupur Kumrawat 606.6 to finish eighth and 34th respectively in the Women's 50m Rifle Prone Junior competition. In the corresponding Junior Men's event, Surya Pratap Singh (608.7) finished 13th, Pankaj Mukheja (608.5) 14th, Harsh Singla (606.0) 20th while Adriyan Karmakar (603.7) ended in 27th place.
In the 50m Rifle Prone Mixed Team Junior competition, two Indian pairs made it to the second stage by virtue of finishing in the top eight in the first qualification stage among 17 teams. Surya Pratap Singh and Nishchal shot 619.1 to finish second in the stage while Nupur Kumrawat and Pankaj Mukheja shot a combined 612.4 to finish seventh.