Junior Women’s Trap final became anticlimactic as three of the six finalists were disqualified, owing to their ammunition not meeting the specifications.
Their ammunition failed the pellet size test. According to the ISSF rules, each pellet must not exceed 2.6 millimeter in diameter.
Interestingly, in the subsequent senior women’s final two of the disqualified juniors Manisha Keer and Pragati Dubey used different ammunition and went on to fight for the bronze medal. The third finalist to be disqualified was Shefali Rajak.
Kirti Gupta, who was representing Delhi, was also disqualified in the qualification round due to the same reason.
With the field narrowing to three from six for the semifinals in the junior section, before a shot was fired, the trio was assured of the medals straightaway. N. Nivetha missed the first bird after being tied on 9 with Sajneet Kaur in the semifinals, and ended up defending her bronze medal from the last edition.
Soumya Gupta was delighted to clinch the gold as she beat Sajneet Kaur 11-10, after having topped the semifinals with 10.
Cartridge Specifications:
Cartridges permitted in ISSF competitions must meet the following specifications:
A) Shot charge must not exceed 24.5 g.
B) Pellets must be spherical in shape.
C) Pellets must be made of lead, lead alloy or of any other ISSF-approved material.
D) Pellets must not exceed 2.6 mm in diameter;
E) Pellets may be plated;
F) Black powder, tracer, incendiary, or other special types of cartridges are prohibited
G) No internal changes may be made which will give an extra or special dispersion effect, such as the inverse loading of components, crossing devices, etc.
Cartridge Inspection:
The Jury must implement a cartridge inspection program that is designed to cause minimal interference to the shooting or athletes during the competition:
A) The Referee or Jury Member may remove an unfired cartridge from the athlete’s gun for inspection.
B) A Jury member or the Referee may take an athlete’s cartridges for inspection at anytime when the athlete is in the shooting area.
C) If an athlete uses ammunition that is not in accordance with these rules he/she must be disqualified.
The Results:
Junior Women’s Trap: 1. Soumya Gupta 11 (10) 61; 2. Sajneet Kaur Rehal 10 (9)1 59; 3. N. Nivetha 9(0) 56.
