Indian shooters had another excellent day at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championships in Jakarta as they added the mixed team title in the 10m air rifle to the two senior golds won on the opening day.
But India had to settle for silver in the mixed team 10m air pistol final, where the Vietnamese pair of Thu Vinh Trinh and Quang Huy Pham (pictured) earned a 17-11 win over the women’s individual bronze medallist Rhythm Sangwan and the men’s individual silver medallist Arjun Cheema.
Earlier at the Senayan Shooting Range, Mehuli Ghosh and Rudrankksh Patil had won the air rifle honours as they beat China’s Yufan Shen and Mingshuai Zhu 16-10 in the gold medal match.
Sangwan and Cheema had topped qualifying, with the Vietnamese duo finishing second. But that was reversed in an exciting final.
Trinh was able to draw profitably upon her experience of winning women’s 10m air pistol gold at the Asian Rifle/Pistol Cup last year, which earned Vietnam a Paris 2024 quota place.
“I did my best for my country, and I am proud for the gold,” Trinh told ISSF TV.
Speaking after the 10m rifle final, Ghosh told ISSF TV: “Rudrankksh hit the first 10.9 and then I had to shoot one for sure!”
Paril said: “I’m feeling very proud right now, and it’s all because of the team.”
Asked about his poker face during the competition, he added: “I believe it’s not over until it’s over, so we had to keep our inner feelings under control. It’s very tough, but that’s our job.”
The inexperienced Chinese pair were very satisfied with their showing, which included topping qualification ahead of the Indian pair.
Zhu, 18, who scored a 10.9, commented: “I was thinking about how to do my best, because in this competition I feel a little bit nervous – and the environment is quite different from the one back home.
“I just took it as a good chance to practice and to gain experience.”
His team-mate, Shen, added: “This is the first time for me in international competition. I tried to do my best and took it as a good chance to get experience in shooting sport.”
Bronze medals in the 10m air pistol event went to the Republic of Korea 1 and Pakistan.
Republic of Korea earned a 16-10 win over Mongolia 1, comprising Kherlentsetseg Gantumur and the previous day’s individual bronze medallist and Paris 2024 quota place winner Davaakhuu Enkhtaivan.
Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat, who had earned a historic Olympic quota place in the previous day’s individual competition, teamed up with Gulfam Joseph – appearing in his first major international tournament - to take another medal with a 16-8 win over the Kazakhstan 1 duo of Irina Yunusmetova and Valeriy Rakhimzhan.
The bronze medal matches in the mixed team 10 rifle event went to Republic of Korea 1 and the Islamic Republic of Iran 2.
The Republic of Korea team of Eunseo Lee and Hajun Park earned a 16-12 win over Singapore’s Natanya Tan and Zen Joi Wong.
The Islamic Republic pairing of Yalda Soleimanijafarabad and Pourya Norouziyan defeated Kazakhstan 2’s Alexandra Le and Konstandin Malinovskiy 17-13.