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Journalism of Courage
The Indian Shooting team ended third in the standings at the Peru ISSF World Cup on Monday. Indian pairs Prithviraj Tondaiman/Pragati Dubey and Lakshay Sheoran/Neeru finished eighth and 12th, respectively, with scores of 134 and 128 out of 150 targets in qualification.
As China topped the tally with four gold, three silver and six bronze medals, the USA came in second with a silver and five fewer bronze medals. India’s final tally read two gold, four silvers and the lone bronze won by Saurabh Chaudhary in the men’s air pistol.
Earlier in the day, Simranpreet Kaur Brar had won silver in the women’s 25m pistol, to give India their seventh medal and a fourth silver of the competition.
It was a good outing for the Indian shooters in the first swing of the ISSF World Cup in South America. Earlier in the Argentina World Cup, India had finished second to China with a haul of four gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
The Indian shooters entered a total of 32 finals across both the ISSF World Cup and won a total of 15 medals, including six gold, six silver, and three bronze.
Suruchi Phogat and Arya Borse were the debutants who clinched a medal, while Chain Singh and Simranpreet Kaur Brar won their first-ever World Cup medals.
| Athlete | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Suruchi Phogat | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Rudrakksh Patil | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Saurabh Chaudhary | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Sift Kaur Samra | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Vijayveer Sidhu | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Arya Borse | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Esha Singh | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Manu Bhaker | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Simranpreet Kaur Brar | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Arjun Babuta | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chain Singh | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Youngster Suruchi impressed everyone with a total of four medals across the World Cups, winning three gold and one bronze.
Arya Borse was the other World Cup debutant to shine, making it to three finals and returning with two silver medals in the mixed team rifle event.
Another story of the World Cups was the return of Tokyo Olympian Saurabh Chaudhary to the international podium. The 2018 Asian Games champion won three medals, including a gold in the mixed 10m air pistol event with Suruchi Phogat.
Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker also won a medal in the World Cup, while Paris Olympian Arjun Babuta returned to the international podium after his fourth-place finish in the 10m air rifle final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The next international assignment will be for the Shotgun squad only, when the Cyprus Shotgun World Cup begins in the first week of next month in Nicosia.
