Romania’s Luca Joldea secured a notable double at the third ISSF Junior World Championships in Lima as he became the first gold medallist at the event in winning men’s 10m air pistol final, having set a Qualifying World Junior Record of 589 earlier on the opening day.
The 19-year-old, (pictured centre), who won team bronze in this event when the first Junior World Championships were held at the same venue three years ago, finished comfortably clear of Chinese Taipei’s Hsiang-Chen Hsieh, who totalled 236.2 for silver, with bronze going to Hungary’s Mate Redecsi on 214.0.
Redecsi and Hsieh rose to the challenge in the final having qualified in seventh and eighth places respectively in a contest involving 77 athletes.
Joldea also collected team silver in company with Levente Bucsias and Constantin-Daniel Feraru, who finished with a total of 1716.
Gold went to India, for whom Umesh Choudhary, who was third in qualifying, Mukesh Nelavalli and Parmod Parmod scored 1726.
Italy’s trio of Matteo Mastrovalerio, Luca Arrighi and Gabriele Villani won bronze with 1707, finishing two points clear of Poland.
This performance capped an outstanding year for Joldea following his victory at the ISSF Grand Prix in Ruse and bronze-medal at the European Junior Championships in Gyor.
Gold in the women’s 10m air pistol went to Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Chun Chen, who finished on 239.8 ahead of leading qualifier Manja Slak of Slovenia, who totalled 236.6, with India’s Kanak Kanak taking bronze on 217.6.
India added a second team gold on the day after finishing with a total of 1708, just one point ahead of the Azerbaijan trio of Zeynab Sultanova, who finished second in qualifying, Leyli Aliyeva and Sofiya Barkhalova.
Ukraine earned bronze as their team of Viliena Bevz, Olha Lepska and Yuliia Isachenko totalled 1704 – four points clear of Chinese Taipei.
India, who topped the first Championships in the Peruvian capital, are set on repeating that performance at the same venue, where their team of 60 is the largest on show.
They top the opening day’s medal table from Romania and Chinese Taipei.
Highlight of day two will be the mixed finals for the 10m air pistol and 10m air rifle.