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World Shooting Championships: Twin brothers Udhyaveer and Vijayveer Sidhu win double joy

Siblings Udhyaveer and Vijayveer shoot down both individual and team junior men’s 25m pistol gold medals

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India’s Udhayveer Sidhu (C), Vijayveer Sidhu (R) and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu pose with their medals after winning the 25m Pistol Men Junior Event in Changwon, Republic of Korea, on Thursday —ISSF
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Indian shooters’ teenage brigade continued its strong showing at the 52nd International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Shooting Championships in Changwon, Korea, on Thursday adding two more gold medals in the kitty to take the overall tally to 24.

On the penultimate day on Day 12, it was the turn of 16-year-old twin brothers — Udhayveer and Vijayveer Sidhu from Mansa, Punjab —  to help India corner both individual and team junior men’s 25m pistol event gold medals. 

After shooting 296 in the rapid-fire stage with a total of 587 points to take the top spot, Udhyaveer teamed up with Vijayveer and another teammate Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu to bag the team gold with a combined score of 1736, a clear six-point lead over second-placed team China (1730). Korean team finished third with a score of 1721. 

Udhayveer shot 291 a day before in the precision stage of the individual event. The silver went to Henry Leverett (584) of the US while local favourite Lee Jaekyoon (582), making it to his first ISSF podium on his home turf, clinched bronze with a score of 582.

Vijayveer, on the other hand, shot 581 to finish fourth while Rajkanwar was distant 20th with 568. 

Mansa town elated

From Punjab’s Mansa town, the twin brothers were shifted to a school in Chandigarh in 2015 to ensure best facilities to practise shooting.

Currently in Class XII, Udhayveer and Vijayveer were taken to shooting range at the age of 10 in Mansa. It was in August 2017 that their family was jolted by the death of father Gurpreet Singh, who was posted as assistant district education officer. 

However, their mother Rani Kaur, a teacher by profession, continued to pursue the unfulfilled dreams of her late husband. The first big breakthrough for these twin brothers came in June this year when they teamed up to win the gold in 25m pistol event at ISSF Junior World Cup at Suhl, Germany.

Udhayveer also won the individual bronze whereas Vijayveer finished fourth in the same individual event.

Seniors disappoint

In the seniors, Sheeraz Sheikh was the best-placed Indian at 8th after Day One of the men’s skeet qualification with a score of 49.

Angad Vir Singh shot 47 to finish at 69th, while Mairaj Ahmed shot 41 to be placed further down at 79th. The three-member Indian team finished 16th in the overall standings with a score of 137.

There were also no medals for India in the 25m centre fire pistol event. London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar could only manage a score of 576 to end at disappointing 24, one place below countryman Gurpreet Singh (581). Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anish Bhanwala was another spot behind Vijay at the same score but with lesser inner-10s to his credit. 

India have managed to grab two Olympic quota places so far from the event, thus making it best ever performance with 24 medals so far (9 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze).

GURPREET PLACED 10TH

In the men’s centre fire pistol, Olympian Gurpreet Singh shot 581 and placed 10th, as he missed a medal by five points. Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anish Bhanwala shot identical scores of 576. The Indian team, thus missed the bronze medal by two points to China.

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