Khushi baggged a bronze in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions as India’s medal tally soared to 15 at the 2024 ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru on Wednesday.
The youngster shot 447.3 in the final to finish third behind Caroline Lund of Norway, who won silver with 458.3, and Synnoeve Berg, won gold with 458.4.
Khushi rallied brilliantly in the final Standing position in qualifying, to clinch seventh spot with a score of 585 to make it to the final. 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, thanks to 29 shots in the inner 10-ring while two Swiss athletes Alexa Tela and Emely Jaeggi managed only 27 and missed out. Khushi finished ahead of Schiavon on countback.
In the eight-shooter final, Khushi was lying fourth at the end of the first two Kneeling and Prone positions, but managed to pip Norwegian Pernille Nor-Woll, at the end of the 40th shot, the 10th in the final Standing position, to move up to third. Lund and Berg were having their own battle for top two throughout the 45-shot final.
Khushi did wobble again on the 41st shot with 9.1 which put her back down to fifth, but a brilliant 10.7 for ther 42nd and 10.4 for her 43rd ensured her a medal.
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.
Meanwhile, Sakshi, Melvina and Prachi finished 24th, 32nd and 41st respectively.
