New Delhi: He drives a glistening Porsche to the shooting range. He lists Lamborghini and Ferrari as dream cars. But the only thing that truly excites speed junkie that Vivaan Kapoor is, is shooting down clay targets. On Thursday, egged on by a partisan crowd at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here, the 22-year-old shot to a silver in the men’s trap final to cap a successful day for the shotgun team after Anant Jeet Singh Naruka picked a bronze in the skeet.
Chopra nailed 44 of the possible 50 hits in near-perfect shooting conditions to finish behind Paris Olympics silver medallist from China Qi Ying who missed only three shots. Turkey’s Tolga Tuncer finished third with 35 shots.
This was Kapoor’s first senior individual medal at the World Cup and follows his three silver medals — all in 2022 — in the team competitions.
“It feels great to win a medal in such a world-class field. It got a bit tight at certain stages but I was determined not to let the scoreboard affect me. I was focussed on getting the job done,” said Kapoor.
“My eventual goal is to win the gold medal in the Olympics and this was just the start I needed to kickstart my LA 2028 cycle,” said Kapoor who is coached by Kuwait’s six-time World Championships medallist Khaled Al-Mudhaf.
“Khaled is my second father. He controls my life, not just the sport. From my time on social media to my training, diet and workouts, he is the one calling the shots. I am lucky to have a coach who understands me so well.”
Khaled said his ward was “god-gifted.” “I have been training him since 2016-17 and it is very rare to come across such a natural talent. He has the potential to be a world beater and that’s what I always tell him,” said the 46-year-old.
Kapoor had earlier finished third in the qualifying round to make the six-man final. Bhowneesh Mendiratta had missed the cut after finishing eighth.
A little over an hour before Kapoor courted glory, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka won India their first medal of the day by finishing third in the skeet final. The 26-year-old shot 43 to end behind the Italian duo of Tammaro Cassandro (57) — an eight-time World Championships medallist — and double Olympics gold medallist Gabriele Rossetti (56).
Compatriot Mairaj Ahmad Khan was the first to bow out of the six-man final with 16 hits. Naruka warded off a sustained challenge from Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist Rashid Salih Hamad Al-Athba of Qatar to put himself in medal contention.
“This medal will be a great confidence booster coming as it does in such a quality field,” he said. Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan had finished fourth at the Paris Olympics in the mixed team event after going down to China’s Jiang Yiting and Lyu Jianlin 44-43 in the bronze medal match.
The Indian admitted that he is still coming to terms with that. “It still hurts. People keep reminding me that I missed the (Olympic) medal by one shot. This medal will go a long way in alleviating some of that pain,” said Naruka, who is coached by Ennio Falco, the Atlanta OIympics gold medallist and former Italian skeet shooter Pietro Genga.
A silver medallist at the 2023 Asian Games, Naruka said Hangzhou was the moment that broke the glass ceiling for him. “For sure, that medal gave me a lot of confidence and luckily I went on to win the Olympics quota and came so close to winning the medal. I believe I am good enough to win an Olympic medal someday.”
In women’s individual skeet, Ganemat Sekhon made the medal round after placing fourth in the qualifiers but could only manage a sixth-place finish. India finished the competition in ninth place with two silver and two bronze medals while China finished on top with eight medals, including five gold.
