Indian women win team gold in skeet, bronze for men at junior worlds

Indian shooters claimed the gold medal in the women's skeetteam event and the bronze in the men's team finals of the ISSF JuniorWorld Championship here. The trio of Areeba Khan, Raiza Dhillon andGanemat Sekhon finished at the top of the podium in the women's eventafter shooting an aggregate score of 6.

In the gold medal round on Friday, the Indian womenwere pitted against the Italian team of Damiana Paolacci, SaraBongini and Giada Longhi. In the men's section, the Indian teamof Rajveer Gill, Ayush Rudraraju and Abhay Singh Sekhon wonthe bronze medal after prevailing over Turkey's Ali Can Arabaci, AhmetBaran and Muhammet Seyhun Kaya 6-0, the same's scoreline asthe women's gold medal contest. A day earlier, rising Indian womanskeet shooter Sekhon had won the silver medal in the tournament'sindividual women's skeet competition.

The Chandigarh shooter, who picked up her firstsenior ISSF World Cup stage medals in New Delhi earlierthis year, went down in a shoot-off to American Alisha Fayth Layne,after both were tied on 46 hits in the 60-shot final. In the men's individualskeet none of the three Indians in the fray -- Rajveer Gill, AbhaySingh Sekhon and Ayush Rudraraju -- could make it to thesix-man finals but they shone in the team event.

India are currently place second in the pecking order withtwo gold, three silver and two bronze for a total of seven medals in thetournament. The USA tops the chart with seven medals including three gold. Thisis the first multi-discipline shooting event since the Tokyo Olympics,with as many as 32 nations and nearly 370 athletes participating in thechampionship.