Medals continued to pour in for India in the shooting arena as the country secured a gold in the men’s 50m rifle three-position team event with a world record. Additionally, the Esha Singh-led women’s 10m air pistol trio secured a silver at the Asian Games on Friday.
The men’s 50m rifle 3-positions team, comprising the young trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (591), Swapnil Kusale (591) and Akhil Sheoran (587), overcame the Chinese challenge with ease with a score of 1769 to take the top podium finish, while the hosts were a clear six points adrift with 1763 points.
South Korea was a distant third with 1748 points.
Aishwary and Swapnil shot superbly to make the individual finals as well. They were placed first and second after the qualification round, something never seen before in a sport dominated by the Chinese at the Asian level.
The third Indian in the competition, Akhil, despite finishing fifth with 587 in qualification, missed out on the eight-team finals as only two shooters per country are allowed in the individual medal round.
Swapnil, a strong medal prospects at next year’s Paris Olympic Games, was firing on all cylinders, shooting down the qualification Asian and Asian Games record on way to a superb 591.
Not to be left behind, Aishwary too shot an identical score to be tied with Swapnil but entered the finals, and was placed second because of fewer shots closer to the bulls eye (inner-10s). Swapnil had 33 inner 10s, while Aishwary had 27.
The two Chinese who made it to the finals — Du Linshu and Tian Jiaming — were placed third and fourth respectively behind the two young Indians.
Both Swapnil and Aishwary shot an average of 9.850 out of a maximum score of 10 on each of the shots in the qualification round in all three positions — kneeling, prone and standing, an incredible achievement, considering the pressure from the relentless Chinese.
In fact, Swapnil had a 199/200 in prone, while Aishwary had an identical score in kneeling position.
Teenager Esha led from the front as she guided the Indian women’s 10m air pistol team to a silver medal.
The trio of 18-year-old 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.
The scores in the qualification round decide the team medallists, while eight top-scoring shooters move into the finals to win individual glory.
