Jr World Cup shooting: Adriyan chips in with second medal as India stay on top

Indian shooters continued to dominate in the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany as Adriyan Karmakar added his second medal of the tournament on Friday. Naraen Pranav, meanwhile, claimed a bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle event on Saturday to give India their fifth medal - one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

 It turned out to be a memorable debut at the Junior World Cup for 20-year-old Adriyan, son of former Olympian, World Cup medallist and celebrated coach Joydeep Karmakar. Two days after shooting his way to a silver with a national record in 50m rifle prone event, the Kolkata-based Adriyan finished with a score of 446.6 for a bronze in 50m rifle three positions.

 Romain Aufrere of France took the gold while two-time prone junior world champion Jens Oestli won the silver with 459.1. ‘’The chill was so strong that even German and Norwegian commentators were making references to it during the live streaming which I was following. I would sum up his first outing at the Junior World Cup quite satisfactory, though his performance in the 50m rifle prone was remarkable,’’ Sr Karmakar said during a chat.  

 There will be, however, no downtime for Adriyan as on returning to India, he would begin training for selection trials on 11 June. ‘’The competition level in the trials are too strong as it offers spots in national teams for Asian Championship and the next world event,'' he added.

 Adriyan had qualified for the 45-shot final with a 588 which gave him fourth spot in the 55-strong field. Romain and Jens were first and third, respectively, in the qualification round. hile the Indian hovered around 13th and 14th spot right through the Kneeling and Prone positions, a streak of eight straight 10s, including the final few shots in Prone and the first few in Standing, ensured an easy final passage in the end.

 In the final, Adriyan could not move above fourth spot initially as Romain, Jens and Jesper looked posied for medals. Adriyan made his move after the first set of eliminations happened after the 40th shot, the 10th in the last Standing position.

Having cut down the gap with third placed Jesper to 0.5, Adriyan fired 10.8 for his 41st and 10.6 for his 42nd to go a point ahead of the Swede. That cushion helped as Adriyan's 10.2 for his 43rd confirmed the medal despite Jesper firing a 10.7 while bowing out.

  Pranav, a Khelo India Youth Games champion, shot 227.9 in the final to finish behind Braden Peiser (250.0) of the USA, who took silver. China’s Huang Liwanlin (250.3) won gold.