Shooter Aishwary Tomar smashes world record on way to gold in ISSF Junior World C'ship
Lima (PTI): Young Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar smashed the world record in the final to win gold in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event at the ISSF junior world championships here.
Tomar equalled the junior world record score of 1185 in qualification to top the field on Monday.
The youngster then bettered the junior world record in the final with a score of 463.4, finishing nearly seven points ahead of second-placed Frenchman Lucas Kryzs, who won the silver with a score of 456.5.
Gavin Barnick of USA won bronze with a score of 446.6.
Among other Indians in the field, Sanskar Havelia was 11th with a score of 1160, Pankaj Mukheja 15th with 1157, Sartaj Tiwana 16th with 1157 and Gurman Singh finished 22nd with a score of 1153.
Earlier in the day, India's 14-year-old shooter Naamya Kapoor fired her way to the gold medal ahead of celebrated compatriot Manu Bhaker in the women's 25m pistol event.
Kapoor shot 36 in the final to claim the top prize ahead of France's Camille Jedrzejewski (33) and 19-year-old Olympian Bhakar (31), who has already won three gold so far in the tournament.
Bhaker settled for the bronze after the French markswoman prevailed in a shoot-off on Monday. Another Indian shooter in the women's final, Rhythm Sangwan, finished fourth as the country dominated the event.
Kapoor was sixth in the qualification with a total of 580 as Bhaker (587) and Sangwan (586) grabbed the top two spots.
Delhi's Kapoor had shot the second-best score of 583 in qualification to finish fifth in the national shooting selection trials at the Dr Karni Singh Range in August.
India lead the standings with eight gold, six silver and three bronze medals for a total of 17 medals.
This is the first multi-discipline shooting event since the Tokyo Olympics, with as many as 32 nations and nearly 370 athletes participating in the championship.
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
