India wrapped up a stellar performance at the ISSF Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun New Delhi 2025, topping the medals table with a strong showing on the final day. At the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, young Indian shooter Tejaswani Singh, fresh off a gold at the Suhl Junior World Cup, grabbed silver in the junior women’s 25m pistol event.
Individual Neutral Athlete Aleksandra Tikhonova took the gold in that event, staying rock-solid from the start and scoring 33 shots to clinch the win. Tejaswani, who led qualification with an impressive 580-17x, kept the pressure on but settled for silver with 30. Italy’s Alessandra Fait rounded out the podium with 28 for bronze.
Other Indian competitors shone too. Naamya Kapoor finished fourth with 21, while Riya Shirish Thatte came in fifth with 16. Individual Neutral Athletes Iuliia Tretiakova and Viktoriia Kholodnaia placed sixth and seventh, respectively, and USA’s Mehr Chanda ended eighth.
In the trap mixed team junior final, Czech shooters Tereza Zaviskova and Tomas Nantl pulled off a thrilling victory. They beat their compatriots Lea Kucerova and Kamil Bednar 39-38 in a tight all-Czech battle for gold. Kucerova had already won gold in the trap women’s junior event the day before. Spain’s Irene Del Rey Ruiz and Isaac Hernandez earned bronze after a 40-40 tie and a 7-6 shoot-off win over Italy’s Sofia Gori and Luca Gerri.
India’s Addya Katyal and Arjun missed out on bronze by just one hit, finishing fifth with 136. Bhavya Tripathi and Arya Vansh Tyagi ended in 10th with 132.
Shifting to the 25m pistol men junior individual—a non-Olympic event—India’s Mukesh Nellavalli, the reigning junior world champion, dominated. He built on his precision stage score of 289-9x from the day before, adding a sharp 296-14x in rapid fire for a total of 585-23x and gold.
AIN’s Aleksandr Kovalev, already a 25m rapid fire pistol champ earlier in the event, took silver with 577-17x. Fellow Indian Sahil Choudhary secured bronze with 573-21x, boosting India’s tally.
Overall, India led the medals table with 19 in Olympic events: six golds, eight silvers, and five bronzes. AIN came second with 10 medals (four golds, two silvers, four bronzes), and Italy third with five (two golds, two silvers, one bronze). India added extra hardware in non-Olympic events like 50m rifle prone for men and women, plus the 25m pistol men junior, bringing two more golds, two silvers, and three bronzes.
Eight countries grabbed medals over the seven days of competition, with five—India, AIN, Italy, Croatia, and Czechia—claiming golds. This 11th edition of the ISSF Junior World Cup marked the first time India hosted, drawing 208 young shooters from 19 federations for 15 Olympic events and three non-Olympic ones.
A few more standout Indian efforts: In 25m pistol women junior qualification, Divanshi scored 568-15x for sixth place, and Payal Kuldeep Khatri hit 564-13x for eighth. In 25m pistol men junior individual, Sameer Gulia finished fourth with 573-19x, Somil Chaudhary fifth at 572-15x, and Raghav Verma seventh with 572-13x.
The event highlighted the rising talent in international shooting, especially from India’s promising junior squad.
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