Shymkent (Kazakhstan), Aug 21 (PTI) Teenaged Indian shooters grabbed four of the five gold medals on offer to dominate the fourth day of the 16th Asian Shooting Championship, taking the country’s medal tally to 26 medals, here on Thursday.
India now have won 14 gold, six silver and as many bronze medals, firmly cementing their position at the top of the standings.
Abhinav Shaw began the gold rush for India, first teaming up with Naraen Pranav (third with 631.1) and Himanshu (fourth with 630.9), to shoot 628.1 in qualification, not only clinching a spot in the final for himself but also ensuring that the trio’s tally of 1890.1 was an Asian as well as a junior world record, apart from the gold for India.
He then shot a thrilling final, beginning fifth on the grid after the first five-shot series to take the lead after the second.
The end stage was a battle of attrition with Lee Hyunseo, but the Indian showed admirable nerves after two high 9s on his 17th and 18th shots to pip the Korean by 0.1 in the end.
The 21st shot with 10.9 was the icing on the cake.
At the shotgun ranges, Mansi Raghuwanshi triumphed in the junior women’s skeet final with a tally of 53 out of a possible 60-targets.
Compatriot Yashasvi Rathore won silver with 52 while Kazakh Lidiya Basharova took bronze.
Here too, Mansi finished the strongest, catching all her last 10 targets, while Yashasvi missed two to settle for silver. Agrima Kanwar, the third Indian in the field, also reached the final to finish sixth.
In the junior men’s skeet, Harmehar Singh Lally (115, 3rd in qualification) and Jyotiraditya Singh Sisodia (110, 5th in qualification) won individual silver and bronze medals each with scores of 52 and 43 in the final respectively. Kazakhstan’s Artyom Sedelnikov won gold with 53 hits.
The duo was not to be denied gold on the day, however, as they combined with Atul Singh Rajawat (107) to bag the junior men’s skeet team gold with a tally of 338, four ahead of the silver-winning Kazakhs.
Earlier, while all three shooters in the men’s 10m air rifle senior event shot brilliant qualification rounds to give India yet another team gold, Rudrankksh Patil and Arjun Babuta could not convert the opportunity into individual medals, finishing fourth and fifth in the final respectively.
Patil looked more in contention for a medal right through the final, before bowing out after the 20th shot of the 24-shot final on a score of 207.6.
Babuta departed two shots earlier with 185.8 as local favourite Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan took gold. Lu Dingke of China claimed the silver with Park Haejun of Korea winning the bronze. PTI AT AT DDV
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