The Indian shooting contingent, on Wednesday, won a total of seven medals, including two gold, at the ongoing 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The star of the day, however, was the 22-year-old Sift Kaur Samra, who clinched the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions gold medal with a world record score.
Samra shot a total of 469.6 in the final, going past the world record set by Great Britain’s McIntosh Seonaid at 467 earlier this year.
Samra’s gold medal effort was also India’s first individual gold medal in this edition of the Asian Games. Besides, she was also joined by Ashi Chouksey with a bronze medal to make it a first double podium in Hangzhou for India.
The duo had also clinched the women’s 50m 3 positions team silver medal earlier in the day alongside Manini Kaushik.
Gold in women’s 25m pistol
On the other hand, the Indian women’s 25m pistol team of Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker, and Rhythm Sangwan took home the gold medal with a cumulative score of 1759.
They faced a stiff challenge from China but managed to edge out the home team by three points, largely thanks to Bhaker’s stunning 590 in the qualification round.
The 21-year-old Bhaker would later finish fifth in the individual final to miss out on a medal, but the teenaged Singh made most of her opportunity to win a silver medal behind China’s Liu Rui, who set a new Asian Games record for the gold.
Naruka stars in skeet
Anantjeet Singh Naruka shone bright with his shotgun in the men’s skeet discipline.
The 25-year-old grabbed the silver medal in the individual event with a score of 58 behind Kuwait’s 60-year-old Abdullah Al Rashidi, who equalled the world record with a perfect 60/60 in the final.
Naruka had earlier helped the men’s skeet team comprising of Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Gurjoat Singh Khangura to a bronze medal. The Indian team had finished level on terms with Kazakhstan at 355 but took the bronze medal on countback.
This was after the Indian women’s skeet team of Darshna Rathore, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, and Ganemat Sekhon finished fourth in the team event.
The trio also failed to advance to the individual final with Rathore finishing eighth with a score of 114 in the qualification round. Dhaliwal (113) and Sekhon (109) were slotted 11th and 17th respectively.
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