Harveen Srao, junior men's team claim Bronze in World Championship

New Delhi, July 24 (UNI) Harveen Srao became the only fifth Indian ever to win an individual medal in the World Championships after she bagged a Bronze in the junior women's section while the junior men's team also claimed a Bronze in the 10m Air Pistol event of the tournament being held at Zagreb, Croatia.

The seniors, however, got off to a poor start with Samresh Jung finishing 31st in the 10m Air Pistol event. The Commonwealth Games multiple Gold medallist shot a score of 576 (96,96,98,96,95,95) for a disappointing start to his campaign.

Meanwhile, Harveen won the Bronze after shooting a score of 382 with a series of 91,94,99 and 98 to become the fifth Indian shooter so far to win an individual medal at the World Championships. Harveen was shaky in the opening rounds shooting a poor 91 and 94 but came back strongly -- just missing three points in the last two series -- to shoot a score of 99 and 98 to climb up the charts and claim the medal.

Harveen -- capable of shooting 385 plus scores -- surprisingly did not win a medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

The other Indians in this event Shweta Chowdhary shot a score of 374 (92,93,96,93) while Fatima Nausheen shot a score of 370 (91,91,95,93). The Gold went to Bramkica Zaric of Serbia and Montenegro with a score of 384 while the Silver was won by Weiwei Lui of China who also shot a score of 384 but had a lesser last series of 97 as compared to the 98 shot by Zaric.

In the team event, India finished fifth with a score of 1126, the Gold in this event was won by China with a score of 1139, Silver by Korea with a score of 1132 while Serbia and Montenegro won the Bronze with a score of 1130 Meanwhile, the Indian junior men's team tallied 1716 points with Amanpreet Jhaam firing 575 alongwith Bapu Vanjare who shot 571 and Zakir Khan (570). China won the Gold with a score of 1726 points while Russia finished second with 1717 just a point ahead of India.

Among the seniors, Vivek Singh finished 44th with a score of 575 (96,94,95,97,99,94) while Ronak Pandit finished 98th with a score of 566 (93,97,95,95,93,93) in the 10m Air Pistol event. The Gold in this event was surprisingly won by 20 year old Wei Pang of China who was participating in his first ever international competition.

The Chinese shot a score of 683.8 (584+99.8) to become the new Air Pistol Men World Champion, Silver was won by Jakkrit Panichpatikum of Thailand with a score 683 (582+101) while Vladimir Gontcharov of Russia won the Bronze with a score of 681.1 (581+101.1).

Indian seniors disappointed in the team event as well finishing 14th. The Gold was won by China, Silver by Russia while France won the Bronze.

UNI PM PR KN1004