India’s Pritam Kendre clinched the gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany, delivering an impressive performance in only his second international competition.
The 16-year-old shooter from Pune scored 251.3 in the eight-man final to finish ahead of Neutral athlete Timofei Aleinikov and Norway’s Jens Oestli, earning India another gold medal at the championship.
Pritam qualified for the final by finishing third in the qualification round with a score of 628.2. Along with Piyush Sharma, placing fifth with a score of 629.0.
In the final, Pritam’s composed performance at the elimination stages produced several high-scoring shots under pressure, including two 10.9s and two 10.8s, to secure the title, featuring 15 shots of 10.5 or higher.
Piyush also emerged as a strong challenger but narrowly missed the podium spot by just 0.1 point.
India, however, did not feature in the men’s team standings after their third member, Abhinav Shaw, was disqualified due to equipment non-compliance under ISSF regulations.
Later in the day, India bagged a bronze medal in the women’s 25m pistol team event with Anjali Bhagwat, Parisha Gupta and Nithila Christopher, who got a combined score of 1713, taking India’s medal tally to 11, including five gold medals.
Pritam’s victory further highlighted India’s growing strength in junior shooting, marking a significant achievement for the country’s emerging talents.
