Doha: India's Vivaan Kapoor came within touching distance of a world title before settling for silver in the men's trap event at the ISSF World Championships on Thursday, but his podium finish also earned the country a quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The 24-year-old from Jaipur was in superb form and looked set to become only the second Indian to win a world title in men's trap after Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who triumphed at the 2006 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
However, a miss in the shoot-off against Kuwait's Abdulrahman Alfaihan cost Vivaan the gold after both shooters finished the regulation 30-shot final tied at 29. Alfaihan held his nerve in the tie-break to claim the title.
Vivaan, though, became only the fourth Indian men's trap shooter after the legendary Karni Singh (silver), Manavjit Singh Sandhu (gold) and Zorawar Singh Sandhu (bronze in 2025) to win a medal at the World Championships in the highly competitive discipline.
Vivaan, whose best before this achievement had been a silver medal at the 2024 ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, also became the third Indian shooter after men's 10m air pistol marksman Jaypal Malviya and men's 50m rifle 3-positions bronze medallist Niraj Kumar to secure an LA 2028 Olympic quota place.
Vivaan had been remarkably consistent throughout the final, with his only miss coming on the 28th shot. Alfaihan, 40, a junior world champion in 2006 and a three-time Asian champion, had been trailing by a point before drawing level at 27-27 when the Indian missed his 28th shot. Both shooters then finished with 29 hits apiece, narrowly missing out on a perfect score of 30, which would have been a world record.
The shoot-off turned into a nerve-wracking contest, with both marksmen hitting their first two targets. But Vivaan missed the third, while the experienced Kuwaiti made no mistake and celebrated with his coach.
China's Qi Ying, the 2024 Paris Olympics silver medallist, took bronze, while Paris Olympics gold medallist Nathan Hales of Great Britain finished fifth.
India's second finalist, Udaivir Singh Jaiji, finished sixth after being eliminated following the first 15 shots, managing 11 hits. Having two Indian shooters in the final was itself a rare achievement.
Making his maiden senior World Championships final, Vivaan said his experience of competing against some of the world's leading shooters had helped him handle the pressure.
"I guess I just gave my best. I focused on my job like always. I've played against a couple of these shooters before, so that experience helped me, and also a big thanks to (foreign coach) Peter (Wislosn) for training us before this competition," said Vivaan.
"It was lovely the way he trained us during the national camp and also my personal coach Giovanni Cernogoraz… shooting with him is like shooting with the champions, so that made me also stronger and (to compete) against shooters of this level and then in the end I was just flowing in, just trying to do my job," he said.
On securing the Olympic quota for the country, Vivaan said: "I feel that it's a great thing that I could do for the country and I'm very happy that now we have a quota and let's hope I give my best and hope to shoot better and better."
The Indian trio of Vivaan, Udaivir and Zorawar finished fourth in the men's trap team event, missing out on bronze on a count-back after being tied on an aggregate score of 354 with Poland and the Czech Republic.
Kuwait clinched gold with a total of 356, while Poland and the Czech Republic took silver and bronze, respectively, both finishing on 354.
Earlier, in the three-day qualification round comprising five series of 25 shots each, Vivaan shot 120/125 to finish sixth after a tense shoot-off involving six other shooters who were all tied on the same score. Udaivir, who also shot 120/125, scraped into the final in eighth and last place after the shoot-off. Olympic champion Nathan Hales topped the qualification with 123, followed by Olympic silver medallist Qi Ying on 122.
The Indian women's trap team of Pragati Dubey (110/125), Manisha Keer (107) and Neeru Dhanda (105) finished seventh with an aggregate score of 322, while Italy clinched gold with 348. None of the three Indian shooters could make it to the eight-shooter individual final.
