Harpal Singh Bedi
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and the mixed trap team of Manisha Keer and Prithviraj Tondaiman won gold medals as India concluded its campaign with 51 medals — 19 gold, 19 silver and 13 bronze medals, at the Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon, Korea on Wednesday.
China topped the table with 73 medals including 32 gold. The competitions were also held in the junior category.
A total of 24 Olympic quotas (two per event) were on offer in 12 Olympic shooting events and India secured six quotas(three men ,three women) taking its overall tally of quotas in shooting for the Games to 13.
Tomar, the most successful Indian shooter at the Asian Games with four medals, scored 463.5 in the 50m rifle 3 positions event final to pick up the gold. China’s Tian Jiaming bagged claimed a silver with 462.7 while his compatriot Du Linshu settled for the bronze medal with 450.3.
While the top two finishers, one from each country, secured a Paris Olympics quota for their respective national teams at the Championships India’s quota allocation in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions had already reached its maximum of two. As a result, Tomar’s gold medal did not impact country’s total count of quotas.
In the qualification round Tomar as the only Indian shooter to finish in the top eight after scoring 591 for fifth place. Akhil Sheoran shot 587 for ninth place and Swapnil Kusale was 11th with 586. The combined score of the trio helped them clinch the silver medal in the team event.
Goldi Gurjar was 15th with 585 while Niraj Kumar was 19th with 582. The two shooters competed for ranking points only (RPO).
In the mixed trap team event, Manisha (69) and Prithviraj (72) shot a combined 141 for the gold medal. South Korea (136) settled for silver while China (134) and Kuwait (133) picked up bronze medals. A total of 16 teams competed in the mixed trap event.
India also won two medals in the non-Olympic shooting event of 25m center fire pistol on the final day of the Changwon meet. Pradeep Shekhawat claimed an individual bronze with a score of 582 and also clinched silver in the team event alongside Prabhjot Singh and Yogesh Singh. The Indian trio shot a combined 1737.
Shriyanka Sadangi ( Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions), Manu Bhaker ( 25m pistol), Tilottama Sen ( 10m air rifle),Anish Bhanwala (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol), Arjun Babuta ( 10m air rifle),and Sarabjot Singh ( 10m air pistol) secured Olympics quotas for India at the Asian championships.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC .
However, shooters who have secured an Olympic quota for Paris will receive a bonus point in the national trials scheduled next year as per the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) selection policy.