Vivaan Kapoor wins trap silver and LA28 quota as India end shooting Worlds with 13 medals

Jaipur trap shooter Vivaan Kapoor finished one target short of a world title in Doha on Thursday, 12 November, losing a shoot-off to Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Al-Faihan and taking silver at the ISSF World Championship. Vivaan Kapoor’s medal also gives India a quota place in men’s trap at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Kapoor and Al-Faihan each hit 29 targets in the eight-man final, and the Kuwaiti won the shoot-off 3-2. China’s Qi Ying took bronze with 22. The ISSF said each medallist also won an LA28 berth for his nation. Udaivir Singh Jaijee, the second Indian in the final, was sixth with 11 hits.

Kapoor and Jaijee needed a shoot-off simply to get there. They scored 120 in qualification, level with several rivals, and came through for the last places in the final. Britain’s Nathan Hales led qualification with 123.

From 52nd in Athens to the podium

A year earlier, at the 2025 World Championship in Athens, Kapoor placed 52nd in qualification with 116, his ISSF record shows. The 24-year-old had won individual silver at the World Cup Final in New Delhi in 2024, and the federation’s ranking lists him 74th in men’s trap.

The team event ended in a three-way tie that left India without a medal. Kapoor (120), Jaijee (120) and Zoravar Singh Sandhu (114) totalled 354, the same as Poland and Czechia, yet those two took silver and bronze and India were fourth. Kuwait won with 356.

It is India’s third LA28 quota from Doha. Jaypal Malviya earned the first with silver in men’s 10m air pistol on 5 November, and Niraj Kumar the second with bronze in men’s 50m rifle three positions on 11 November.

Mixed team closes India’s campaign

India’s last event came on Friday, 13 November, in the trap mixed team. Kapoor and Manisha Keer placed 21st of 48 pairs with 134, according to the ISSF results, with Kapoor hitting 71 of his 75 targets. Neeru Dhanda and Sandhu were 32nd with 132. Only the top four, led by an Australian pair on 144, reached the final.

India therefore finish with 13 medals, two gold, seven silver and four bronze, second only to China’s 27 in the total count. One of the golds came in the women’s 25m pistol team event, where Esha Singh top-scored with 590. The ISSF schedule lists Saturday, 14 November, as departure day.