ISSF Junior World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun · Sydney, AUS

In the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Junior event, the young shooter first qualified for the final with the highest score, then prevailing over two of his teammates and over three Chinese participants.

In the one final scheduled for today at the Sydney International Shooting Centre in Sydney (AUS), Anish Anish of India climbed atop the podium in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Junior event.

The 15-year-old — who placed 7th in this event at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 in Guadalajara (MEX), earlier this month — led the match since its very first stage, as he was the only shooter able to nail a perfect 5-hit series during the whole final. Indeed, after recording the highest qualification score with 585 points, Anish concluded with 29 total hits, pocketing the first international gold medal of his career in this event.

Two Chinese shooters placed alongside him on the Rapid Fire Pistol podium: 19-year-old Cheng Zhipeng took silver with 27 hits, adding it to the bronze he won at last year’s ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl (GER), while Zhang Jueming (20) finished with 23 and claimed bronze in his first Junior World Cup start ever.

Appearing in his second final at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney, Anhad Jawanda finished just outside of the medal positions, finishing in 4th place with 17 hits and improving from the 7th position he obtained two days ago in the Air Pistol event.

Jawanda was followed by the third Chinese final participant — 19-year-old Pan Junchen — who scored 12 hits and took 5th place in first Junior World Cup start ever. Eliminated after four series, India’s 15-year-old Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu signed off with 7 and placed 6th in the first international appearance of his career.

On the team podium, Zhang, Cheng and Pan secured the gold medal and set a new Junior World Record with 1733 points, while India’s Anish, Jawanda and Adarsh Singh took silver. The bronze medal was awarded to a second Indian team, composed by Sandhu, Japtyesh Singh Jaspal and Mandeep Singh.