INDIA moved to 12th in the Asian Games medal table on Friday (25) with two gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals, after Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet won gold and the men’s 50m rifle 3-position team took silver. China led the standings, followed by Japan and South Korea.
India’s second gold came in shooting, following the women’s T20 cricket team’s title on Tuesday (22). Shooting has now produced 10 of India’s 20 medals.
Suruchi, 20, and Kamaljeet kept their composure in the 10m air pistol mixed team final to end India’s wait for a shooting gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The pair combined for 484.6 points, setting an Asian and Games record, and led from the opening series. South Korea finished with 478.0 for silver, while Iran took bronze with 415.8.
For Suruchi, the victory carried extra meaning after she missed out on a medal in the individual 10m air pistol event alongside Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh.
“I came to the range today with the only aim of winning the gold after the disappointment of missing an individual medal,” she said.
“I am happy that I am the one who has brought India its first medal at the shooting range.”
The Haryana shooter, ranked third in the world, had already built an impressive record with five World Cup and one World Cup Final gold medals. She and Kamaljeet had also topped qualification with 587 points, equalling the Asian Games record.
That gave them the advantage going into the final, but they still had to handle the greater pressure of the medal round. This time there was no late collapse. The Indians stayed ahead throughout to claim the title.
Rifle team settles for silver
India added a silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3-position team event through Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Niraj Kumar.
The Indian trio scored 1,762 points, four behind China’s 1,766, despite leading for a large part of the competition. Aishwary was India’s top scorer with 589, followed by Niraj on 588 and Rudrankksh on 585.
The performance put Aishwary and Niraj into the individual final, while Rudrankksh missed out after finishing ninth.
Meanwhile, the individual final brought less joy for India. Niraj was eliminated first after struggling to find consistency across the kneeling, prone and standing positions.
Aishwary, the world No. 7, also failed to reproduce the precision that had helped the team win silver. He was the fourth shooter eliminated, ending his challenge on the 32nd shot.
China dominated the individual event, with Olympic and world champion Liu Yukun taking gold with a Games-record 460.5. Fellow Chinese shooter Zhang Changhong won silver with 460.2, while Kazakhstan’s Islam Satpayev claimed bronze with 448.3.
For India, however, the day belonged to Suruchi and Kamaljeet. Their gold not only ended a shooting drought but gave the Indian contingent a much-needed boost as competition in Nagoya moves into its second week.
