Mukesh bags 7 medals as Gun for Glory Academy shooters shine at the ISSF Junior World Championships

The pupils from Gun for Glory Academy have once again made the entire country and the academy proud with their stern efforts and achievements at the 2024 ISSF Junior World Championships in Peru. Eight of the students - Mukesh Nelavalli, Gautami Bhanot Anushka Thokur, Abhinav Shaw, Vibhuti Bhatia, Vedant Waghmare, Raajwardan Patil, Chandra Raj and Khushi proudly contributed to India’s medal tally by winning a combined 16 medals at the tournament.

Mukesh’s campaign at this year’s Junior World Championships has been quite impressive, with the youngster bagging a total of seven medals. He won a gold each in 10m Air Pistol Junior Team, Junior Men’s 25m Sports Pistol, 25m Sports Pistol Men Team Junior, 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Junior Team, and 25m Std Pistol Men’s Junior Team respectively. Other than the five gold medals, the rising star also bagged bronze medals in the Junior Men’s 25m Std Pistol and 50m Free Pistol Men Junior categories. Mukesh also finished 4th in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event and 9th in the 10m Air Pistol qualification, narrowly missing the final by just two inner tens.

Expressing his emotions on this victory Mukesh said, “It is indeed a glorified moment for me as winning a gold medal is for the country is a dream of every athlete. To be able to do it five times at such an initial stage of my sporting career makes it even more special and has made me even more motivated to do well in the next events and tournaments. My academy Gun for Glory, which is run by the Olympic medalist Gagan Narang has played a huge role in this achievement and my success as a shooter. A huge thanks to my coach for believing in me, this wouldn’t have been possible at all without all your support and teachings.”

18-year-old shooter Gautami Bhanot was another of the shooters to have had a historic run in the tournament. Having bagged a gold medal at the tournament last year in the 10M Air Rifle Mixed team category, Bhanot won a bronze medal in the same event this year. She then paired up with her fellow academy student Anushka to bag a gold medal in the 10M Air Rifle Women’s team category by achieving the best score by an Indian athlete in ISSF World Championship in the event: 634.7. She also finished 4th in the 10m Air Rifle Women’s final.

Five more gold medals came from our academy shooters as Abhinav, Vibhuti, Vedant, Raajwardan and Chandra emerged on the top of the table in their respective events. Sakshi Padekar also made history by achieving the highest score of 590 by an Indian shooter in the 50m 3P event at any ISSF Junior World Championships. Raajwardan Patil missed out on a second podium after finishing 4th in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Final. Vedant Waghmare narrowly missed the final by just one inner ten and finished 9th in the qualification round of event.

"We are proud of the athletes who are carrying the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians on their shoulders and have fulfilled their hopes. I feel great and honored to be a part of this process of training young athletes through our initiatives at the Gun for Glory Shooting Academy. The academy provides the necessary framework and facilities for the young shooters and prepares them for global challenges and competitive environments and the result is in front of you. It is a matter of pride for our academy to produce 8 medalists and 16 medals at the ISSF Junior World Championships and we are very sure that this number will only increase in the future. India has a lot of talented shooters, all we need to do is find them and cater to their needs, for them to emerge as global icons. This is our aim at Gun for Glory and we have been working extensively towards achieving it,” said the 2012 London Olympics silver medalist Gagan Narang, who is also the director of the Gun for Glory academy.

Compared to 2023 when Gun for Glory Academy sent seven athletes who cliched 8 medals, there was a stark increase in the performance.

Indian shooters indeed had a glorified campaign at the ISSF Junior World Championship, having bagged a total of 13 gold, 3 silver and 8 bronze medals. With this stupendous medal count, the junior shooters made the country bag the first position in the medal tally, with a total of 24 medals.