Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar qualified for the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team final giving India a shot at a shooting medal on the first day of the 18th Asian Games on Sunday.
In the newly-added event, the Indian pair finished second in the qualification behind Korea with a total score of 835.3. The Korean pair of Eunhea Jung and Hyeonjun Kim set the record with 836.7.
In the four series, India maintained a steady score of 208.6, 208.7, 206.7 and 211.3 respectively, and were neck-to-neck with China to begin with and then kept the pace behind Korea. Chandela had a slightly low score in the third round, shooting just a 101.8, which brought her total score down. She finished with 415.3, while Ravi scored 420.
The finals start at 12 noon India time.
Also read: Asian Games Day 1, live blog
Both Chandela and Ravi started strong, never falling out of the top three in the qualifications, even moving to the lead at one point. But their final series of 105.0 and 106.3 respectively, ensured not after slight dip in the third series, but also the second spot.
Chandela and Ravi Kumar have the experience of shooting together. At this year’s first ISSF World Cup in Mexico, they had finished after topping the qualification rounds, shooting a combined total of 837.9.
Meanwhile, India’s 10m air pistol mixed team of Manu Bhaker and Abhishek Verma narrowly missed a final berth as they finished sixth in qualification with 759 points. Kazakhstan had the same score but had more inner 10s and they advanced to the five-team final.
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