Changwon
Ankur Mittal claimed the men’s double trap gold medal in the ISSF World Championships for his career’s biggest triumph as the Indian shooting team continued its dominance in the premier tournament.

The multiple World Cup medallist shot 140 out of 150 to go into a shoot-off for the gold with China’s Yiyang Yang and Slovakia’s Hubert Andrzej. The 26-year-old from Bhatgaon in Sonipat overcame the Chinese 4-3 to emerge triumphant after the Slovakian had missed his second shoot-off clay target to settle for the bronze.

Mittal also won the team bronze in the event along with compatriots Md. Asab and Shardul Vihan, their tally of 409 points putting them behind China’s 410 and the gold-winning team Italy’s tally of 411.
In other events of the day, two Indian women missed out on the finals of their respective events by the narrowest of margins. Anjum Moudgil, who has already won the silver in the 10m air rifle and a 2020 Olympics quota place for India, shot 1170 in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualifying round to finish ninth. The top-eight make it to the finals.

Anjum shot the same score as the eighth-placed Nina Christen of Switzerland, but Nina’s 66 inner 10 shots were higher than Anjum’s tally of 56 inner 10s, putting the Swiss ahead in the rankings.

Manu Bhaker, in the women’s 25m pistol, tallied 584 in qualification to finish 10th. At the end of the second rapid fire qualification round, four shooters — Singapore’s Xiu Hong Teh, Qatar’s Aldana Saad Almubarak, Greece’s Olympics champion in the 10m air pistol Anna Korakaki and Manu — were tied at the same score. However, Xiu and Almubarak made it through as their tallies of 22 and 21 inner 10s were better than Anna’s 19 and Manu’s 16. In the trap mixed team junior event, Manisha Keer and Manavaditya Singh Rathore reached the six-team final with a qualification score of 139, which placed them second. They eventually finished fourth with a score of 24 in the final. The Italian pair of Erica Sessa and Lorenzo Ferrari won the gold with a junior world record score of 42 in the final.