India’s dream run in shooting continued at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Swapnil Kusale, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Akhil Sheoran won gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 position event with a world record cumulative total of 1769. China finished second with 1763 to get the silver medal while Korea got bronze with 1748. So dominant was India’s team performance that their gold medal was confirmed even before their third shooter completed his final round in the standing position. This was India’s fifth gold medal in shooting and 7th overall at the 19th Asian Games.
Aishwary (591) and Swapnil (591) also smashed the qualification round Games records to finish in the top two and advance to the final of the individual event. Swapnil got the top spot because of more inner 10s (closer to the inner circle). The team medals are given after cumulative scores in the individual qualification rounds. Akhil, the third shooter in the Indian team, missed out on qualification for the individual finals despite finishing 5th as only the top two from each team (who finish in top 8) are allowed to go through. Akhil got a total score of 587.
The final of the individual event will take place at 11:30 am IST.
Silver in Women’s 10m Air Pistol Team Event
This was not the only medal India got on Friday from the team event in shooting. The trip of Palak Gulia, Esha Singh, and Divya TS got silver in the women’s rifle 3 position team event. Esha (579), Palak (577) and Divya TS (575) aggregated 1731 points for their silver medal, while China took the gold with a total of 1736, which is an Asian Games record.
Chinese Taipei finished with a bronze, totalling 1723.
Esha and Palak will also have a chance to win individual medals as they both made it to the eight-shooter final, placed fifth and seventh after the qualification round. Divya missed the cut, finishing 10th.
The scores in the qualification round decide the team medallists, while eight top-scoring shooters move into the finals to win individual glory.
Esha had also claimed a silver medal in the women’s individual 25m pistol event on Wednesday, while the trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha and Rhythm Sangwan had fired in tandem to shoot the gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol team event on the same day.
India has so far amassed 15 medals at the shooting range, of which five are gold. The medal tally could only increase after the individual finals.
