New Delhi, Oct 2, 2021: India’s Junior Women’s Skeet team comprising Ganemat Sekhon, Raiza Dhillon and Areeba Khan, struck gold on competition day three of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru, on Friday. They blanked out team Italy 6-0 in the gold medal match. After winning historic silver on Thursday, India’s first Skeet medal at the world championship level, in the individual Women’s Skeet, this was Ganemat’s second medal of the competition.
Later the Indian Junior Men’s Skeet team of Rajveer Gill, Ayush Rudraraju and Abhay Singh Sekhon, also bagged a bronze beating Turkey by the same 6-0 margin to make it seven medals so far. This includes two golds, three silver and two bronze medals, putting them behind leaders USA in the medal standings.
The women had qualified for the gold medal match by virtue of finishing second to Italy in qualification, shooting a combined 457 out of 525. Each of the three shooters had to shoot seven rounds of 25-shots each and Ganemat led the effort with a 155 out of 175. Raiza shot 152, while Areeba shot 150. Italy topped the five-team field with a total of 460.
In the final however it was Raiza and Areeba who led India’s charge shooting a perfect 10 out of 10 targets in the first two rounds to give India a commanding 4-0 lead. In the third and what turned out to be the deciding 5-shot round, both teams missed extravagantly, but India hit six out of 15 to Italy’s five, sealing the victory.
The Junior Men had a six-team field to contend with in the qualifiers held on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. They shot 453 to finish behind Italy (488) and the USA (487). Turkey shot 449 to finish fourth.
In the bronze match, none of the Turkish shooters could get a perfect five in any of the rounds with Indians Abhay Sekhon and Rajveer Gill bagging one five each and the first and third rounds respectively. Turkey’s inconsistency meant India cruised to the bronze medal in three rounds here as well.
Sunday has the final of the Junior Mixed Team Skeet lined up with two Indian pairs, Ayush and Raiza and Abhay and Areeba vying for medals.
