Shooting Worlds: Hriday wins junior 10m air rifle gold; Medals for Elavenil, Shreya
Changwon (South Korea), Sep 7: India's Hriday Hazarika clinched the gold medal in the men's junior 10m air rifle, while Elavenil Valarivan and Shreya Agrawal claimed silver and bronze medals respectively in the women's junior 10m air rifle event at the 52nd ISSF World Championships here on Friday.
The 16-year-old Hriday prevailed in a shoot-off, scoring a decisive 10.3 against Iran's Amir Mohammad Nekounam, who came up with a 10.2.
Junior World Cup gold medallist Hriday and Amir finished tied at 250.1 points after nine series, comprising 24 shots.
The podium was completed by Russian Grigorii Shamakov, who scored 228.6 points. The fourth place was taken by Marco Suppini of Italy with 207.2 points.
India, however, failed to win a medal in the team competition in this category. By setting a new record, China took the team gold medal with 1876.2 points. Iran followed in 2nd place with 1874.3 points, while the Russian side won bronze with 1873.7.
In the women's junior 10m air rifle event, Elavenil (249.8 points) and Shreya (228.4) finished behind Chinese Shi Mengyao (250.5).
However, the performances of Elavenil and Shreya powered India to a gold medal in the team event. They won gold along with their teammate Manini Kaushik with a total tally of 1880.7 points.
The score turned out to be a new junior world record, an excellent result that proved once again the strength of the Indian team, currently ranked 2nd in the intermediate medal standings of the ISSF World Championship, second only to the host country.
China, led by the new world champion Shi, collected the silver medal with 1874.6 points (scored by Shi, Wang Suhyi and Qiaoying Zhang). Bronze went to the host country, South Korea, thanks to Kim Jiyeon, Ga Eul Han and Minjung Oh, who scored 1871.9 points.
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Idukki: Congress leader quits in protest against party's stance on Waqf Bill
Idukki (Kerala), Apr 4 (PTI): A local Congress leader in this hill district on Friday resigned from the grand old party in protest against its stance on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
Benny Peruvanthanam, general secretary of the Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC), resigned from the party, accusing it of neglecting the Christian minority and taking a pro-Muslim stance on the Munambam issue.
"Congress has neglected the Christian minority community for years, while only appeasing Muslims. In protest of this approach, I am resigning from the Congress party," Benny told reporters.
He stated that he had raised the issue within party forums and urged for changes, but no action was taken.
"The situation has reached a point where it’s impossible to move forward, so I have resigned from the post of DCC secretary and from the party as well," he added.
Peruvanthanam also criticised the Congress leadership for its negative stance regarding the concerns raised by the KCBC and Catholic Church organisations. However, he stated that he has not aligned with any other political party now.
The Congress leadership has yet to comment on the matter.
The Munambam residents, strongly supported by the Catholic Church, have been protesting for the past 174 days for revenue rights over their properties, allegedly claimed by the Waqf Board.
The Christian community has significant influence in the Idukki district.
