Gurnihal’s silver, bronze add to India’s medal tally at the ISSF World Championship

There was a silver in store for the Indian junior men’s skeet team as Gurnihal Singh Garcha clinched an individual bronze medal at the ISSF World Championships on Tuesday.

The three-member team comprising of Gurnihal (119), Ayush Rudraraju (119) and Ananjeet Singh (117) secured a second-place finish in the finals after they shot a combined score of 355.

Gurnihal also qualified for the individual final where he won an individual bronze medal by shooting 46.

Elia Sdrucciioli of Italy won the gold medal with 55 while America’s Nick Moschetti emerged as the second-best with a score of 54.

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The women’s skeet team ended in the ninth place with a score of 319. The Indian team ended fourth in the junior women’s 50 rifles 3 positions, having scored 3383.

India stands at the fourth position in the tally with 20 medals- seven gold, eight silver, and seven bronze. The ISSF is the first qualifying event for the Olympics to be held in Tokyo 2020.

India has ensured for themselves two Olympic spots through Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela. Moudgil won a silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event while Chandela finished fourth in the same event.

But despite them having secured berths for Tokyo, the final call rests on National Rifle Association of India, who would select the candidates keeping in mind the aggregate scores which the shooters would gain in international tournaments and during the selection trials before the Olympics.