India finished their 2024 ISSF World Cup Final campaign with four medals as Vivaan Kapoor bagged a silver in men’s trap and Anantjeet Singh Naruka took bronze in men’s skeet in New Delhi on Thursday.
The two medals helped India finish ninth in the standings with two silver and two bronze medals as China topped the tally with five gold and three bronze medals in their kitty.
Seven other nations, Italy, Germany, France, Hungary, Denmark, San Marino and the USA, won a gold each, with Italy finishing second with three silver and a bronze and Germany third with two silver to add to their lone gold.
A total of 14 nations out of the 37 participating, won medals in the prestigious annual ISSF season-ender.
Kapoor shines
Kapoor took aim in the final event of the concluding day, the men’s trap final, in a field that featured Olympic champions, the Paris Olympics silver medallist and a former world champion.
That did not fetter him however as he shot like a man possessed in the 50-shot final, eventually finishing second with 44-hits as China’s Qi Ying, the Paris silver medallist, took gold with 47. Turkiye’s Tolga Tuncer won bronze.
Calm and humble after an overwhelming performance, Vivaan said after the final, “It was all God’s grace and my coach’s [former world champion Khaled Almudaf] efforts.”
The second-place finish marked a first-ever senior medal in an ISSF event for Kapoor.
Olympian Naruka wins bronze
Naruka’s stock as India’s number one men’s skeet shooter has been growing since his famous silver at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Since then the youngster went to his first Olympics in Paris and famously missed the skeet mixed team bronze partnering Maheshwari Chauhan, finishing fourth.
Naruka overcame an early wobble with two misses in the first ten shots to win the bronze medal with 43 hits out of 50.
He finished behind behind the Italian duo of Tammaro Cassandro and double Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti, who won gold and silver respectively.
“I was really pumped up today and did not want to finish fourth or fifth and wanted to win the medal today. I am very happy that I was able to do it,” said Naruka after the final.
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