India’s 15-year-old shooter Yugan Sakthivel Muthukumaar clinched the gold medal in the men’s trap event at the ISSF Junior World Cup Shotgun 2026 in Porpetto, Italy.
Yugan produced a strong performance in the eight-shooter final, hitting 27 of 30 targets to finish at the top. He edged Italy’s Francesco Tanfoglio by one target to secure India’s first medal at the Porpetto competition.
Yugan had qualified for the final in sixth position with a score of 114 out of 125. He secured his place in the medal round after prevailing in a shoot-off.
Among the other Indian shooters in the men’s trap qualification, Arjun and Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat finished 12th and 13th respectively, with scores of 112. Udhav Singh Rathore finished 16th with 111.
In the women’s trap event, junior Asian champion Sabeera Haris was the only Indian shooter to qualify for the final. She entered the medal round after finishing sixth in qualification with 108 out of 125 following a shoot-off.
However, Sabeera missed out on a medal after finishing sixth in the final, where she hit nine of 15 targets.
Bhavya Tripathi and Krishika Joshi narrowly missed qualification for the final after both recorded scores of 105. They finished ninth and 10th respectively.
Earlier in the competition, India did not win a medal in the junior men’s and women’s skeet events, with no Indian shooter advancing to the finals.
The Porpetto competition is the second ISSF Junior World Cup of the year. The opening tournament was held in Cairo, Egypt, in April and featured rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines.
India topped the medal tally in Cairo with 16 medals, including five gold, six silver and five bronze. Zuhair Khan and Addya Katyal won India’s only shotgun medal at the event, a bronze in mixed trap.
The Porpetto competition will conclude on Saturday with the junior mixed team trap event, which will be the final medal event of the tournament.
-ANI
