Young Indian shooter Hriday Hazarika bags Gold at SSF World Championships 10m Air Rifle event

Changwon, September 7: Young Indian shooters continue to shine at the ongoing ISSF World Championships in Changwon, South Korea. A 17-year-old Hriday Hazarika bagged a gold medal on Friday in 10m Air rifle on men's category (junior) with a score of 627.3 points. 

This comes a day after, Saurabh Chaudhary not only clinched a Gold medal in 10m Air Pistol event but also set a new world record at Junior level with a score of 245.5 points. Notably, Hriday Hazarika was the only Indian to qualify for the final with a score of 627.3.

Hriday was in a tie with Iran's Mohammed Amir Nekounam on 250.1 once the field was pruned to the regulation top eight. However, in the finals, he claimed the top honours. Russia's Grigorii Shamakov bagged the bronze with a score of 228.6 in the final.

Unfortunately, the Indian team comprising Hazarika, Divyansh Panwar and Arjun Babuta, finished fourth with a combined total of 1872.3 in a team event.

Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore congratulated Hriday Hazarika for his outsanding performance in the ISSF Championship in a tweet. He said, “GOLDEN SHOT! Young guns blazing! Many congratulations to our super champ Hriday Hazarika who has shot a GOLD in the 10m Air Rifle Junior Men's event in the @ISSF_Shooting World Championships. Well Done Hriday! Have a brilliant future ahead.”

On Thursday, Saurabh Chaudhary and Arjun Singh Cheema finished the the ISSF World Championships 10m Air Pistol event with a Gold and Bronze medals respectively. While the duo of Saurabh Chaudhary and Arjun Singh, paired with Anmol also bagged a silver medal in the team event. Earlier, in the day, Shreya Agarwal and Divyansh Singh bagged Bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Junior Final Event.

Anjum Moudgil started things off on a bright note when she won the Silver medal in Women's 10m Air Rifle. Moudgil then teamed up with Apurvi Chandela and Mehuli Ghosh to win another Silver in the Team Event. On the other side, Om Prakash Mitharval added a Gold to the two medals, by finishing on top of the charts for Men's 50m Pistol.