Ojasvi, Himanshu pick gold as India bag rich haul at Junior World Cup Shooting

India’s teenage shooters, led by 16-year-old Ojasvi Thakur, produced a great display in the 10m Air Rifle Junior Women’s event at the ISSF Junior World Cup New Delhi 2025 at the Capital’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range to grab all three medals.

The male shooters also returned with four medals -- one gold, one silver and two bronze medals as India swelled their tally to 20 medals which includes six gold, eight silver and six bronze.

Monday began with a heartbreak as young Mukesh Nelavalli and Suraj Sharma squandered opportunities to let Aleksandr Kovalev of AIN (Individual Neutral Athlete) walk away with the prized gold. Both had opportunities but messed them up when they had to tighten the noose. Sharma was docked two points as penalty for moving the gun too quickly from the position of rest whereas Nelavalli had a poor last shot that forced the gold medal contest to a shoot-off. There too Nelavalli wasted the chance as he got only one hit on target out of five. One of the shots even missed the target,

The Russian Kovalev got three on target to win it 3-1.

Himanshu (centre) and Abhinav Shaw (right) with the medals 

“My performance was above average but I messed up the last series. I began focussing on time more than the series – especially for the first shot,” said Nelavalli. 

But there were no such problems for Ojasvi who led 1-2-3 for India. She scored 252.7, firing two brilliant 10.9s on her 8th and 16th shots to seal the gold. Compatriot Hrudya Shri Kondur secured silver with 250.2, while qualification leader Shambhavi S. Kshirsagar 229.4 returned with bronze.

Ojasvi was featuring in her second World Cup after getting a silver in Suhl, Germany earlier this year.

“I did not start on a strong note. I was shooting 9s as I was a bit nervous. But those 9s taught me a lot and I started doing better after learning from failures as the competition progressed,” said Ojasvi who got hooked to shooting at the age of 10 in 2019 when she attended a fortnight long camp in Himachal Pradesh.

She then came under the wings of Suma Shirur.

“Everything I have learned is because of her,” said the shooter who wants to pursue medicine alongside shooting.

Mukesh Nelavalli (left) and Suraj Sharma (right) with the medals

The last final event of the day -- the men’s 10m Air Rifle Junior Final -- saw India’s Himanshu clinch gold with a superb 250.9. Individual Neutral Athlete Dmitrii Pimenov followed with 249.9 for silver, while India’s Abhinav Shaw claimed bronze with 228.4.

“This is my first international individual medal,” said Himanshu who survived some anxious moments but then held his nerve to beat Pimenov by a full point.  

Himanshu had started his career as a wrestler after being encouraged by his neighbour but then switched to shooting after getting beaten by a national-level wrestler in a competition.

Here, however, he is winning gold and his father, who pushed him into wrestling, is a proud man.

Tags : World Cup, Junior, medal, shooting, air rifle, rapidfire, gold, silver, bronze