Hangzhou, September 25 (Language) India’s 10 meter air rifle team, led by world champion Rudranksh Patil, won the country’s first gold medal in the Asian Games with a world record score on the second day of the shooting competition on Monday.
Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar then won the bronze medal in the individual event, which is India’s fourth medal in shooting. Aishwarya defeated Rudranksh in the bronze medal match who finished fourth.
Aishwarya won the bronze medal with a score of 228.8 points, defeating Rudranksh in the third place shoot-off.
Aishwarya was in contention to win the silver medal by defeating Park Hajun but was eliminated on the final shot with 9.8 points. The South Korean shooter ultimately won the silver medal while China’s Sheng Lihao won the gold medal with a world record score of 253.3 points.
Earlier, the trio of Rudranksh, Olympian Divyansh Panwar and Aishwarya won the gold medal in the qualification round with a total score of 1893.7, defeating the strong teams of China and South Korea.
The previous world record for total score was 1893.3 points, set less than a month ago by the Chinese team during the World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
South Korea won the silver medal with a total of 1890.1 points while the bronze medal went to China with a total of 1888.2 points.
India’s air rifle shooters put in a dominant performance. Nineteen year old Rudranksh scored 632.5, Tomar scored 631.6 and Divyansh scored 629.6.
Rudranksh and Tomar also ensured a place in the final of eight shooters.
All three shooters of India performed brilliantly. Divyansh, however, will be disappointed as he could not make it to the finals due to the Asian Games rule under which only two shooters from a country can make it to the finals.
Rudranksh stood third in qualification and Tomar stood fifth. Divyansh finished eighth and had it been a World Cup, World Championship or any other continental competition, all three Indian shooters would have made it to the finals.
The benefit of this rule went to Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan who, despite finishing ninth, made it to the finals in place of Divyansh.
China’s Sheng Lihao topped the qualification with 634.5 points, which is an Asian Games record in qualification. Park Hajun of South Korea took second place with 632.8 points.
However, the path to the gold medal was easy for the Indian trio. Rudranksh scored a series of 104.8, 106.1, 103.8, 105.5, 106.7 and 105.6 while Tomar scored 104.1, 105.5, 105.3, 105.7, 105.7 and 105.3.
Divyansh, who represented the country in Tokyo Olympics 2020, had the series of 104.8, 104.3, 104.6, 104.7, 106.3 and 104.9 points.
Rudranksh’s father Balasaheb Patil told PTI after his son won the gold medal, “My son was determined to give his best in sports. He is very confident in his abilities and before leaving for Hangzhou, Rudranksh had said that he will aim to win the first gold medal for the country.
“He addressed minor issues with his shooting before leaving for Hangzhou,” he said. He worked hard in the last two months.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had not included Rudraksh in the team going to Baku for the ISSF World Championships as the federation wanted to secure more Paris Olympics quota places for the country by sending other shooters.
Rudraksh has already secured an Olympic quota for the country by winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Cairo last year.
Language Sudhir Mona
Mona
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