Divanshi’s second gold leads India’s clean sweep at ISSF Junior World

Lima (Peru), Oct 5 Indian pistol shooter Divanshi secured her second individual gold in the women’s 25m standard pistol event, leading a remarkable clean sweep in the event at the ISSF Junior World Championship here. India’s young shooters added five more medals to their kitty, including two gold on Friday taking the tally to 21 medals to remain at the top of the standings — 13 gold, two silver and six bronze.

Norway remained a distant second with 10 medals — four gold, three silver and three bronze — while China occupied third place (3-1-0). Divanshi dominated the event with a score of 564 out of 600, finishing ahead of teammate Parisha Gupta, who shot 559 for silver. Manvi Jain completed the Indian sweep with a bronze-winning score of 557, marking India’s first-ever clean sweep in this competition. Shikha Chaudhary narrowly missed a podium finish, placing fourth with a score of 554, just one point ahead of Estonia’s Marja Kirss. In the corresponding junior men’s event, Suraj Sharma claimed gold with a score of 571, edging out Poland’s Ivan Rakistski, who shot 568 for silver.

Mukesh Nelavalli, who already has four gold medals in the championship, shot 568 but settled for bronze after a countback. Other notable performances included Harsimar Singh Rattha (565), Raajwardan Singh Patil (562), and Pradhyumn Singh (562), who finished seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively in the junior men’s event. In the junior women’s 50m rifle prone event, Melvina Joel Gladson was the best Indian finisher, placing 14th with a score of 617.5. Prachi Gaikwad (616.7), Khushi (615.1), Aadhya Agrawal (614.2), and Anoushka Thokur (611.9) finished 19th, 26th, 27th, and 35th, respectively. In the team competition, Melvina, Prachi, and Anoushka’s combined score of 1846.1 secured a sixth-place finish for India in the prone event.