Khushi seals dramatic bronze, takes India's tally to 15 at ISSF Junior World Championship

Khushi secured a hard-fought bronze in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions at the ISSF Junior World Championship here, dramatically qualifying for the final before rallying to claim the third spot.

Her medal on Wednesday took India's tally to 15, including 10 gold, one silver, and four bronze medals, keeping the country at the top of the standings.

The youngster shot 447.3 in the final to finish behind Caroline Lund of Norway who won silver with 458.3. Caroline’s compatriot Synnoeve Berg won gold with 458.4.

However, Khushi's path to the podium was far from easy. She narrowly made it to the medal round, rallying brilliantly in the final standing position in qualifying to clinch the seventh spot with a score of 585.

It got so tight that there were four others on the same score. However, Khushi and Italian Anna Schiavon clinched the final two qualifying spots, scoring 29 inner-10 shots, while two Swiss athletes -- Alexa Tela and Emely Jaeggi -- managed 27.

Khushi finished ahead of Anna on countback.

In the eight-woman final, Khushi was fourth at the end of the first two positions -- Kneeling and Prone.

A strong finish in the Standing position allowed her to pip Norwegian Pernille Nor-Woll after the 40th shot to move up to third.

Synnoeve and Caroline were having their own battle for top-two throughout the 45-shot final.

Khushi wobbled again on the 41st shot with 9.1 which put her back down to fifth, but a brilliant 10.7 in the 42nd and 10.4 in 43rd ensured the bronze.

In the team competition in junior women’s 3P, the trio of Sakshi Padekar, Melvina Joel Gladson and Prachi Gaekwad, finished fifth with a tally of 1757.

Anoushka Thakur also shot 585 in qualification, but 26 hits in the inner-10 ring meant she ended 11th.

Sakshi, Melvina and Prachi finished 24th, 32nd and 41st respectively.