New Delhi: The Indian Junior Shooting squad got off to a Golden start on the first day of competition at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior Cup, when they won both the individual and team Gold medals in the 25m Standard Pistol event for junior men.

Shivam Shukla did his country proud when he shot a total of 560 to finish ahead of compatriot Rituraj Singh by a point. Italian Dario Di Martino lost in a shoot-off with Rituraj to settle for the Bronze in the event. It was double delight for India, when both Shivam and Rituraj combined with Achal Pratap Grewal to strike Gold in the team event as well by shooting a total of 1671, leaving behind teams from France (Silver) and Russia (Bronze) by a huge margin of 36 and 40 points respectively.

Additionally, the junior men’s Double Trap team consisting of Priyanshu Pandey, Jaisal Singh and Ahvar Rizvi also won the Team Bronze shooting a total score of 382 to finish behind teams from Russia (Gold-400) and the USA (Silver-394). Priyanshu also reached the finals of the individual event, only to finish sixth.

In latest reports coming in from Suhl, the Indian team has also bagged another couple of medals in team events. The junior women’s 10m Air Pistol team comprising of Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Shreya Gawande and Gauri Sheoran won the Silver medal, shooting a total of 1135. They narrowly missed the Gold by virtue of lesser number of inner 10s to the Russian team, who finished on top with the same combined team total. In the 10m Air Pistol junior men’s team event, the Indian trio of Achal Pratap Grewal, Arjun Das and Anmol shot a combined total of 1702 in the finals to finish behind teams from Russia (Gold-1730) and Italy (Silver-1706) to bag the Bronze medal. Achal also reached the finals of the individual event, but could only manage a 5th place finish.

The Indian team so far has won a total of six medals including two Golds, two Silvers and two Bronze medals.

The second edition of the ISSF Junior Cup in Rifle-Pistol-Shotgun is being held at the Shooting Centre in Suhl, Germany. A total of 572 junior men and women shooters representing 44 nations are participating in the competition which began on Saturday, June 27. India has fielded a 53 strong squad for the tournament, which gets over on Wednesday, July 1.