NEW DELHI: Akash Saharan, Vivaan Kapoor and Janmajai Singh Rathore gave the Indian squad enough reason to smile as they stayed in contention for the final of the men's trap shooting competition on day one of the ISSF Junior Shotgun World Cup at Porpetto in Italy today.
Akash shot rounds of 24 and 25 for a 49 out of 50 to lead the qualification standings out of 71 shooters. Vivaan and Janmajai totaled 46 each to stay in fourth and fifth places respectively. The top six make it to the final rounds.
Lakshay Sheoran was on 45 and in 12th place and three good rounds can also get him into contention while a fifth Indian in the fray, Manavaditya Singh Rathore shot 39 to lie in 43rd place.
The junior women's team, however, fell short with two shooters -- Nivetha Nenthirasigamani and Soumya Gupta finishing six short of the final qualifying target to end at 12th and 13th respectively. They shot 56 out of 75 when 62 would have made them eligible for a finals shoot-off.
Manisha Keer finished 23rd on a score of 53 while Kirti Gupta ended 32nd with 51.