Doha, Nov 12 — Indian shooter Vivaan Kapoor clinched the silver medal in the men's trap event at the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun on Thursday, securing India's third quota place for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
India's medal tally at the ongoing championship in Doha also increased to 13 following Vivaan's podium finish and Ankur Goel's double medal success in the men's 25m centre fire pistol event.
Competing at the Lusail Shooting Complex, Vivaan finished level with Kuwait's Abdulrahman Alfaihan at 29 hits in the final. However, Alfaihan edged past the Indian in the sudden-death shoot-off, winning 3-2 to claim the gold medal. China's Qi Ying secured bronze with 22 hits.
Vivaan's quota-winning performance follows Jaypal Malviya and Niraj Kumar's achievements in Doha. Jaypal secured India's first LA28 quota place with silver in the men's 10m air pistol on November 5, while Niraj added the second with a bronze medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions on Wednesday.
Earlier, two Indian shooters advanced to the eight-man final after a seven-way tie at 120 out of 125 in the qualification round. Vivaan qualified sixth after hitting six targets in the shoot-off, having registered scores of 25, 24, 24, 24 and 23.
Teammate Udaivir Singh Jaijee also shot 120 (25, 24, 24, 24, 23) and secured the eighth and final qualifying spot after winning a sudden-death shoot-off (3+0). Udaivir finished sixth in the final with 11 hits, exiting behind Great Britain's Nathan Hales in the qualification ranking.
In the men's trap team event, the Indian trio of Vivaan (120), Udaivir (120) and Zoravar Singh Sandhu (114) narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with a combined score of 354 across five rounds (73, 68, 72, 72, 69).
India tied with silver medallists Poland and bronze medallists Czechia but finished fourth on countback due to a lower score in the final round. Kuwait won the team gold with 356, while Zoravar finished 55th in the individual qualification standings.
India also enjoyed double podium success in the men's 25m centre fire pistol event, with Ankur Goel winning the individual silver medal with a total of 583-19x.
Ankur shot 292 in the precision stage and 291 in the rapid stage. Latvia's Ernests Erbs won gold with 588-24x, while Czechia's Jindrich Dubovy claimed bronze with 582-26x.
Ankur then combined with Amanpreet Singh and Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu to secure the team bronze medal with an aggregate score of 1727-57x. Amanpreet finished ninth in the individual standings with 578-19x, while Rajkanwar placed 23rd with 566-19x.
Ukraine won the team gold medal with 1735-47x, followed by the Republic of Korea, which secured silver with 1731-46x.
Following Thursday's results, India are placed second in the overall medal standings with 13 medals, comprising two gold, seven silver and four bronze. China lead the table with 27 medals (13 gold, six silver and eight bronze), while the Republic of Korea are third with 10 medals (two gold, five silver and three bronze).