India win five medals in Czech shooting tournament, cadet girls bag silver

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New Delhi: India's cadet girls grabbed a silver medal while the junior boys and junior girls settled for a bronze each in the team events of the Czech Junior and Cadet Open that concluded in Hodonin, Czech Republic.

India’s Payas Jain picked up two bronze too to make it a grand six-medal haul for the country, following the silver that Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah won in the junior doubles' competition.

Payas partnered Navid Shams of Iran to take his first bronze in the cadet doubles; he then featured in the cadet boys’ team event for India to make it a fruitful outing for himself and the country.

Diya Chitale was one of the star performers for the 14-member contingent, guiding the cadet girls’ team to the final with three victories against Serbia. She won both her singles matches and the doubles in the company of Munmun Kundu.

Her first singles’ tested her courage and nerves, as she was down 1-2 and 8-10 against Reka Bezeg to be on the brink of defeat. She, however, maintained her calm and pulled off a sensational 3-2 victory.

India, however, could not get past China in the final, losing 0-3 to return with a silver medal.

India, represented by Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Jeet Chandra and Snehit Saravajjula, lost 1-3 to Japan in the semifinals of the junior boys’ team competition to take the bronze.

Archana Kamath, Selena Selvakumar, Prapti Sen and Yashini Sivasankar also found eventual champions China too hot to handle in the junior girls' team event. They too lost in the semis to pocket the bronze.