Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
16-year old Udhayveer Sidhu did it twice as he bagged an individual and team gold in the junior men’s 25m pistol event in the World Shooting Championships in Changwon (Korea) on Thursday.
Sidhu shot 587 (291 in precision and 296 in rapid) in the individual competition to clinch the gold piping American duo of Henry Leverett (584) and Korean Lee Jaekyoon (582).
His twin brother Vijayveer Sidhu scored 581, while Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu fired 568 to be placed 4th and 20th respectively..
The trio’s combined score of 1736 enabled India the team gold followed by China, which totalled 1730. The bronze medal went to Team Korea, which shot a score of 1721.
It was Sandhu’s 568 ( 279 precision and 289 in the rapid) which played vital in earning the India the gold in the team event.
In the senior men’s category, Sheeraz Sheikh was lying eighth with a score of 49 after day one of the skeet qualification Angad Vir Singh was way below at 69th after shooting 47, while Mairaj Ahmed (41) was further down at 79th.
The Indian team, comprising the trio, was 16th in the overall standings with a score of 137.
There were no medals for India in the 25m centre fire pistol event with Gurpreet Singh managing the 10th spot with a score of 581, followed by London Olympics silver-medallist Vijay Kumar.
Kumar tallied 576 to end a disappointing 24th. A spot behind him was Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Anish Bhanwala, who shot the same score but had lesser inner-10s to his credit.
The team signed off fourth with a score of 1733.
India is placed fourth in the medals tally with nine gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals for a total of 24, making this their best performance in the International Shooting Sport Federation’s showpiece.
The country has already claimed two Olympic quota places from this first qualifying event for Tokyo 2020 Games.