Vivaan Kapoor Wins Silver at ISSF World C’ship, Secures India’s LA 2028 Olympic Quota

India’s Vivaan Kapoor came agonisingly close to a historic world title but settled for silver in the men’s trap event at the ISSF World Championships in Doha on Thursday. However, the 24-year-old’s remarkable performance brought India another major reward, securing a quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Jaipur shooter was on the verge of becoming only the second Indian to win a men’s trap world title after Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who claimed gold at the 2006 World Championships in Zagreb. But a costly miss in the shoot-off against Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Alfaihan denied him the top spot.

Both shooters finished the regulation 30-shot final with 29 hits each, forcing a tie-breaker to decide the champion. After hitting their first two targets in the shoot-off, Kapoor missed the third, while the experienced Alfaihan kept his composure to secure gold.

Despite missing out on the title, Kapoor achieved a significant milestone, becoming only the fourth Indian man to win a World Championships medal in trap. He joined the distinguished company of Karni Singh, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Zorawar Singh Sandhu, who won bronze in 2025.

The silver medal also earned India its third shooting quota for the LA 2028 Olympics, following Jaypal Malviya’s qualification in men’s 10m air pistol and Niraj Kumar’s bronze in men’s 50m rifle three positions.

Kapoor, competing in his maiden senior World Championships final, credited his experience of facing leading international shooters and the guidance of foreign coach Peter Wislosn and personal coach Giovanni Cernogoraz for helping him handle the pressure.

“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,” Kapoor said, adding that he hoped to keep improving.

China’s Qi Ying, the Paris Olympics silver medallist, claimed bronze, while Olympic champion Nathan Hales of Great Britain finished fifth. India’s other finalist, Udaivir Singh Jaiji, finished sixth after managing 11 hits in the first 15 shots.

India also narrowly missed a team bronze. Kapoor, Udaivir and Zorawar Singh Sandhu finished fourth with 354 hits, losing out on count-back to Poland and the Czech Republic, who took silver and bronze respectively. Kuwait won team gold with 356.