India made a strong start in the ISSF Junior World Cup with the women making a clean sweep of the podium spots in 50m rifle prone, while the men bagged a silver and a bronze in the same event on the first day of the competition here on Thursday.

Young Anushka Thokur carried on from where she had left off at the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan, where she had won the junior gold in 50m rifle 3 positions recently, taking the top podium spot at the Dr Karni Singh Ranges with a score of 621.6.

Another 18-year-old, Anshika bagged the silver totalling 619.2, while 20-year-old Aadhya Agrawal took the bronze with a score of 615.9 in the non-Olympic discipline.

Deependra Singh Shekhawat and Rohit Kanyan bagged their maiden international medals, clinching silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 50m rifle prone.

Also read: 8 Indians make it to ISSF World Cup Final

Deependra, who had competed in the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions event at the Asian Championships in Kazakhstan recently, finished second with an aggregate of 617.9 over six rounds of 10 shots each.

Rohit Kanyan took the bronze with a score of 616.3. Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) athlete Kamil Nuriakhmetov took the gold, tallying 618.9 points in the 11-shooter field.

The other three Indians in the fray, Nitin Waghmare (615.6), bronze-medallist in Kazakhstan recently, Kushagra Singh (611.6) and Kunal Sharma (590.9), finished 5th, 8th and 11^th, respectively.

Competitions in Olympic disciplines will commence on Friday with the men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events lined up.