India’s Sift Kaur Samra celebrates after winning the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on September 27, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Indian women’s shooting contingent had a fruitful day at the Asian Games on September 27, bagging a gold medal in the 25m pistol team event, a silver medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 position event and gold and bronze in the individual 50m rifle 3 position event.
Sift Kaur Samra produced some excellent shooting to claim the gold medal in the individual 50m rifle 3 position event while Ashi Chouksey settled for the bronze.
Samra shot a world and Games record score of 469.6 to claim the yellow mettle while Chouksey managed 451.9 to bag the third position in the eight-women final.
Host nation China’s Qiongyue Zhang crashed what could have been an India one-two by winning the silver with a score of 462.3.
Before her triumph in the final, Samra broke the Asian Games record in qualification with a total score of 594 (out of 600) along with China’s Xia Siyu, who finished on top by virtue of higher inner 10 scores (closer to the centre of the target.) Chouksey had a total of 590 and qualified in sixth position. Manini Kaushik, meanwhile, finished 18th with a score of 580.
Team events
The Indian triumvirate of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan fired in tandem to shoot the gold medal in the women’s 25m pistol team event. Manu, Esha and Rhythm totalled 1759 to finish on top of the podium and help the country clinch its fourth gold medal in the ongoing sporting extravaganza.
Indian shooter Manu Bhaker competes in the women’s 25m pistol rapid individual qualification event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, on Sept. 27, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
The sensational Manu also topped the qualification after finishing the last rapid-fire series with 98.
The Chinese bagged the silver medal with 1756, while the shooters from South Korea settled for the third position with a total score of 1742.
They claimed the top prize minutes after another trio of Indian shooters dished out an excellent performance to win a silver medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 position event.
Ashi Chouksey, Manini Koushik and Sift Kaur Samra combined to shoot a total of 1764 points in the qualification to finish second on the podium.
Hosts China won the gold with an aggregate score of 1773, while South Korea bagged the bronze with a total score of 1756.