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New Delhi, December 10
Pistol ace Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu bagged a bronze medal each to continue India’s medal charge at the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Wako City, Japan, today.
Jitu won an individual bronze in the men’s 10m Air Pistol, which also helped the Indian team comprising Shahzar Rizvi and Omkar Singh, besides Jitu, to bag the team gold in the event.
Heena claimed an individual bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol. Her effort, along with teammates Shri Nivetha Paramantham and Harveen Srao, helped the team finish with a silver.
India added another individual bronze through Anmol Jain in the junior men’s 10m Air Pistol as well as the team silver in the event, thanks to the combined exploits of Anmol, Gaurav Rana and Abhishek Arya.
Having won 11 medals on the first two days of the competition, India’s medal count stands at four gold, six silver and seven bronze for a total of 17 medals so far.
In the men’s 10m Air Pistol, it was Shahzar Rizvi who topped the qualification with a score of 583. He along with Rai, who shot 577 to finish fifth, made it to the eight-man final. Omkar Singh missed out, shooting 575 to finish 10th, but it was enough to secure the team gold for the troika with a combined score of 1735 — six points ahead of second placed China and seven ahead of third placed Vietnam.
In the 24-shot final, Rai pipped Shahzar to claim bronze with a score of 219.6. Shahzar was more than a point ahead of Rai till the 18th shot, but scores of 10.9 and 10.6 by Rai in the 19th and 20th aim meant Shahzar finished fourth at 199.6.
Zhengyang He of China won the gold, equalling the world record with a score of 241.8, while his compatriot Wei Yang ( 241.1) won the silver.
In the women’s 10m Air Pistol, Heena was the only Indian to make the final. Her 380 placed her fifth among top eight qualifying finalists.
Shri Nivetha shot 377 to end in 11th position while Harveen scored 375 to finish 15th. The trio, though, won the team silver with a combined effort of 1132. China won gold with 1137 and Chinese Taipei (1126) bronze. Yukari Konishi of Japan, meanwhile, won the individual gold in the event with an Asian record of 245.3, while veteran Mongolian Otryad Gundegmaa (241.6) bagged the silver medal.
Heena began well in the final but a 7.8 in the 11th shot meant she had to be content with an individual bronze with a final score of 217.2.
In the junior men’s 10m Air Pistol, Jain, who topped the qualification with a score of 577, along with Rana (569) and Arya (557) made it to the final. Their effort also ensured India the team silver. China (1716) won the gold, while Chinese Taipei (1648) settled for bronze.
In the final, it was Rana who was the fastest of the blocks, but the two Chinese — Jiayu Wu and Sihao Tang — shot consistently to claim the top two positions respectively. Jain was in second after the 18th shot but lost out to Tang to settle for bronze. — PTI
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