Harpal Singh Bedi
Shriyanka Sadangi scored 440.5 ton finish fourth in the 50m rifle 3 positions event and that enabled her to secure 13th Olympic Quota for India at the Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon, Korea on Tuesday.
This was also India’s second quotas in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event. A country can win a maximum of two quotas per shooting event for the Paris Olympics. Six of the 13 quotas have been obtained at the ongoing Asian Championships.
South Korea’s Eunseo Lee (468.5) won the gold medal while Chinese shooters Jiayu Han (463.3) and Siyu Xia (453.3) settled for silver and bronze, respectively. Since Lee had already won the quota place for South Korea and China having reached the maximum quota limit of two in the women’s 50m rifle three positions, Shriyanka fourth place assured India an Olympic quota. In the qualification round, Shriyanka shot 588 for sixth place. Asian Games bronze medalist Ashi Chouksey was second in the qualifying round with 591 and Ayushi Podder was ninth with 587. While Ashi shot 417.4 in the final for sixth place, Ayushi was seventh with 407.5.
Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra aced the qualifying round with 592 but she was competing for ranking points only (RPO) and did not enter the final eight. Manini Kaushik, also competing under RPO, was 10th with 586.
The combined total of 1766 by Ashi , Shriyanka and Ayushi also helped India win the gold medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event ahead of Kazakhstan (1760) and South Korea (1759).
Indian shooters will be in action in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions on Wednesday. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who was country’s most successful shooter at the Asian Games in Hangzhou with four medals, will also compete.
Since India have already obtained a maximum of two quotas in the 50m rifle 3 positions, Tomar cannot add to Olympic quotas at the Asian championships even if he manages to finish in the top two.
However, Indian rifle and pistol 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.
The Asian Shooting Championships is a qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympics. A total of 24 Olympic quotas are on offer with the top two finishers (one per country) in each of the 12 Olympic shooting events securing a spot for their national teams.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024