Four golds take India to top of medal standing at ISSF Junior World Championship
Lima (Peru)(PTI): Manu Bhaker shone bright as India claimed four gold medals out of the six on offer, along with two silvers, to surge to the top of the medal standings at the ISSF Junior World Championshiphere here on Sunday.
India swept the 10m air pistol medal events, including the mixed, women's and men's team competitions as well the 10m air rifle men's team gold, to end the day with six gold, six silver and two bronze medals.
The USA are lying second with four gold, four silver and two bronze.
Bhaker was at the heart of the Indian performance winning two more golds on the day. She now has a total of three golds from the Championship.
After partnering with Sarabjot Singh to win gold in the Pistol Mixed Team, she teamed up with Rhythm Sangwan and Shikha Narwal to win the 10m air pistol women's team event, beating Belarus 16-12 in the gold medal match.
The men's air pistol team then also struck gold with Naveen, Sarabjot Singh and Shiva Narwal putting it across the Belarussian men 16-14.
Earlier in the day, the junior men's 10m Air Rifle team had also won gold.
The women's 10m air pistol team event saw India dominate as it had topped round one of qualification earlier with a combined 1722 after 180 shots and then round two on Saturday shooting 569 to Belarus' 568.
In the final, although it was even at the start, the Indians finished strong to seal the victory.
In the men's 10m air pistol team event, India were as dominating winning round one and round two before pulling off a tight gold medal match against Belarus yet again.
In the women's 10m air rifle team event India's Nisha Kanwar, Zeena Khitta and Atmika Gupta, did top the first qualification round but qualified for the gold match finishing second to the Hungarian trio of Eszter Mezaros, Eszter Denes and Lea Horvath, in round two.
The Hungarians maintained that superiority in the final to strike gold, their first of the competition.
It was also Atmika's second silver of the day as she had teamed up with Rajpreet Singh in the day's first medal event, the 10m air rifle mixed team, to finish second there as well.
Rajpreet, in fact, also now has one gold and one silver medal in his kitty.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
