Hubballi shooter Aishwarya Balehosur wins silver at World Junior Championship
Hubballi shooter Aishwarya Balehosur secured a silver medal for India at the ISSF World Junior Championship in Shul, Germany, on Thursday. The 18-year-old narrowly missed out on the individual gold medal in the 50M Pistol event following a close tie-breaker.
Aishwarya finished joint top with Sofiia Smetankina, a Russian shooter competing under the individual neutral athletes (AIN) banner, after both finished the sixth and final round with a score of 540. Smetankina clinched the gold medal by virtue of one better shot in the inner 10-ring, hitting 12 to Aishwarya's 11.
The young shooter from Hubballi started strong, scoring 90 in the first round and following it with two 90-plus scores. She led the competition until the fifth round but shot a below-par score of 87 in the final round, allowing Smetankina to catch up.
Ariunzaya Amarbayasgalan of Mongolia won the bronze medal in the event. Aishwarya's compatriots Parshina Gupta, Sanskriti Bana, and Sejal Kamble finished fourth, eighth, and 13th, respectively. Aishwarya's silver medal contributed to India topping the event's overall medal tally with seven gold, eight silver, and 10 bronze medals.
Aishwarya, who turned 18 last February, is the daughter of Ravichandra Balehosur, a former shooter who represented Services in the nationals. Ravichandra and his brother, Shivananda, run a shooting academy in Hubballi, where they nurtured Aishwarya's talent.
In 2023, at the age of 15, Aishwarya won a gold medal in the 50M air pistol event at the senior nationals in Bhopal. Earlier this year, she secured a bronze medal in the national senior shooting championship in free pistol 50M with a score of 532 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi. This performance, along with strong showings in qualification events, earned her a spot on the Indian team for the World Junior Championship.
Aishwarya currently trains under the watchful eyes of former Olympian Jitu Rai and is aiming to secure an Olympic quota for the Los Angeles Games through future ISSF events and selection trials.
