Vivaan Kapoor Wins World Trap Silver, Earns LA28 Quota

The Jaipur shooter lost the gold medal in a shoot-off after missing a single target. His result earns India another place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Doha: Indian shotgun shooting has a new name to celebrate. Vivaan Kapoor won the silver medal in the men’s trap event at the ISSF World Championship on Thursday, and with it secured India’s third quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

It was a result that came with both joy and a pang of regret. The 25-year-old from Jaipur was within one target of becoming only the second Indian man to win a world title in trap.

How the final unfolded

Competing at the Lusail Shooting Complex, Vivaan finished level with Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Alfaihan on 29 hits at the end of the final. A shoot-off was needed to separate them. Vivaan missed a clay in the decider, which handed the gold to Alfaihan and left Vivaan with silver.

He had earned his place in the final the hard way. Vivaan qualified in sixth position after scoring 120 over five rounds of 25, 24, 24, 24 and 23, and then holding his nerve through a qualification shoot-off in which he hit six targets.

A rare medal for India

The silver puts him in a small group. Vivaan is only the fourth Indian man to win a medal in trap at the world championships. Dr Karni Singh won silver in 1962, Manavjit Singh Sandhu won gold in 2006, and Zoravar Singh Sandhu took bronze last year.

That is a long gap in a discipline where India has rarely been among the leading nations, and it comes at a time when the country’s shotgun programme is pushing to close the distance to Europe’s best.

The Olympic quota

The silver medal secures India’s third quota place for LA28 at this championship. The first came from Jaypal Malviya, who won silver in the men’s 10m air pistol on November 5. The second came from Niraj Kumar, who took bronze in the men’s 50m rifle three positions on Wednesday. Vivaan’s result is the first of those quotas to come in a shotgun event.

Quota places belong to the country and not to the individual, so the national federation will decide who actually goes to Los Angeles. Even so, Vivaan’s performance puts him in strong contention.

The team missed out by a whisker

India also came close to a second medal on the day. The trio of Vivaan (120), Udaivir (120) and Zoravar Singh Sandhu (114) finished fourth in the men’s trap team event. Their combined total of 354 across five rounds (73, 68, 72, 72, 69) was identical to that of silver medallists Poland and bronze medallists Czechia, and they missed the podium on the tiebreak.

Overall, India remained second in the medal standings at the championship, and won two medals in the men’s 25m centre-fire pistol event.

Who is Vivaan Kapoor?

Vivaan is from Jaipur, Rajasthan, and has been on the national circuit for years. He won a junior World Cup team bronze in 2018 and was crowned national champion in men’s trap at the 65th National Shooting Championships, where he beat the experienced Prithviraj Tondaiman in the final. In October 2024, he won silver at the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, scoring 44 in the final behind China’s Ying Qi.

His silver in Doha is the biggest result of his career. Nearly a decade after his first international medals as a junior, it shows that the consistent performances in World Cups are turning into results on the biggest stages.

What to watch

India’s shooters still have more events left at the championship, and more Olympic quotas could come. For Vivaan, the immediate task is to regroup, and the longer one is to stay at this level through the qualification cycle for LA28. The feeling of missing gold by a single clay will not go away quickly, but it may also be useful fuel for 2028.