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107 Medals at Asian Games, Highest Ever Tally

This is India’s best-ever performance in the Asian Games the total medal count of 107 exceeding the previous highest haul of 70 medals by a wide margin….reports Asian Lite News

With the men’s doubles pair of Satsiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty smashing their way to a historic first-ever gold medal in badminton and with two medals each in archery and kabaddi, India bagged 12 medals including six gold to end its campaign in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou with their highest-ever haul of 107 medals.

India finished the Asian Games with a bang, claiming a final-day haul of 12 medals, which took its tally to 107 —– 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze medals — a total that causes disbelief for all those who still remember that the country had left with just one gold medal from Kabaddi when China hosted their first Asian Games in 1990

This is India’s best-ever performance in the Asian Games the total medal count of 107 exceeding the previous highest haul of 70 medals by a wide margin.

It came on the sheer dint of years of sweat and toil of a contingent of 963 including athletes, coaches, support staff and administrators.

While Rankireddy and Shetty uncorked wild celebrations, throwing their racquets, armbands and — in the case of Shetty his sweat-soaked shirt — they danced with gay abandon after beating an experienced South Korean pair in straight sets to win their first gold, the men’s kabaddi team resorted to an unprecedented on-court protest over an official error, holding up play for an hour.

The officials ruled in favour of the Indians after a review, which resulted in the Iranian teams having an on-court sit-in protest. The matter was finally resolved with the Indians getting the points and the Iranians left unhappy over the loss of points as India regained the gold medal after being relegated to fourth position in the 2018 edition in Indonesia.

India, in a sense, presented both the good and bad sides of sports, leaving a bad aftertaste for true sports lovers.

But the good was more prominent on Saturday as India finished fourth in the medals tally, with an unprecedented overall medal haul of 107 — 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze, which though a far cry to China’s massive total of 382 medals — 200 gold, 111 silver and 71 bronze. Japan finished second with 186 medals — 51 gold, 66 silver and 69 bronze — while the Republic of Korea took third place with 190 medals of which 42 were gold, 59 silver and 89 bronze.

The Compound archers presented the good side of the sport as Jyothi Surekha Vennam, in her third Asian Games, and Ojas Pravin Deotable, in his maiden appearance, won gold medals in women’s and men’s individual events respectively in a discipline that is not the Olympic Games programme.

The women’s kabaddi team also restored their dignity by winning the gold medal after being dethroned in the previous edition in Indonesia in 2018. However, the 26-25 victory over first-time finalists Chinese Taipei was too close for comfort for fans in the sports that India gave to the world. 

The men’s cricket team won the sixth gold medal for India — the biggest gold haul on a single day — based on a ludicrous rule that declared the winner based on the World rankings of the National team in a rain-abandoned match.

Wrestler Deepak Punia grabbed one of the four silver medals and archer Abhishek Verma had to console himself with his second successive silver medal after losing to Deotale in the final played in cold and rainy conditions.

The wizards from the land of Chathurangam, claimed two silver medals in chess, with the men’s team of D Gukesh, R OPraggnanandha E Arjun, Vidit Santosh Gujarathi and Pentala Harikrishna, finishing second behind Iran while Uzbekistan took bronze.

The women’s team took silver behind hosts China with Kazakhstan claiming the bronze medal.

On Saturday, the women’s hockey team restored some pride by winning the bronze medal match beating defending Champions Japan 2-1 in the third-place match. But what would rankle them most is that the team failed to secure a berth in next year’s Paris Olympics. China grabbed the opportunity to qualify for the Paris Olympics by beating the Republic of Korea in the final.

Archer Aditi Gopichand Swami won the bronze medal. At 17, she represents the future, which looks rosy going by the standard set at Hangzhou.

But the question that would plague the discerning fans of Indian sports is — how many of these will go ahead and succeed at the Paris Olympic Games next year?

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India Clinches Asian Games Gold in Kabaddi

With just over a minute remaining, and scores tied 28-28, in the match, Pawan Sehrawat from the Indian team was forced to go in for a do-or-die raid….reports Asian Lite News

In a highly intense thriller amid referee’s goof-up, India clinched yet another gold at the Asian Games after defeating Iran 33-29 in the kabaddi men’s final, here on Saturday.

Indian team was trailing by three points (6-9), before the halfway stage of the first half, however, India, after going down 9-12 at one point, came back strong to finish 17-14 at the end of the first half against Iran.

With just over a minute remaining, and scores tied 28-28, in the match, Pawan Sehrawat from the Indian team was forced to go in for a do-or-die raid.

During his raid, Pawan went out of bounds without making contact with any Iranian defender.

In response, Amirhossein Bastami and three other Iranian defenders rushed towards Pawan in an attempt to push him out.

This led to a moment of confusion, as it was unclear whether Pawan had been successfully tackled or not.

Initially, Iran was awarded a point for their efforts to stop Pawan.

However, the Indian contingent, including players and officials, began arguing with the on-court umpire and the TV officials.

After further review and perhaps another referral, the officials decided to award four points to India. It’s mentioned that the number of points could vary depending on the number of players who went out with Pawan.

The final decision seems to be based on both old and new rules. According to the old rule, India would get four (or possibly five) points, while the new rule would give one point to each team because one of the Iranian defenders (Bastami) went out of the line (self-out).

As per the new IKF (International Kabaddi Federation) rule, India was given three points and Iran received one point.

This decision led to protests from the Iranian team. 

However, in the end, it was India, that won the final 33-29 after a thrilling finale that was interrupted for a long time

ALSO READ: In Historic First, India Crosses 100-Medal Mark in Asian Games

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In Historic First, India Crosses 100-Medal Mark in Asian Games

India’s 100th medal was a gold won by the women’s kabaddi team that defeated Chinese Taipei 26-25 in the final in Hangzhou, report by B Shrikant

India made history by crossing the 100-medal mark in overall medals for the first time in the history of the Asian Games in the 19th edition of the Continental multi-nations, multi-discipline sports extravaganza that was first proposed and first hosted by India in New Delhi in 1951.

India’s 100th medal was a gold won by the women’s kabaddi team that defeated Chinese Taipei 26-25 in the final in Hangzhou. 

India’s 100 medals in Hangzhou include 25 gold, 35 silver and 40 bronze. Of these 100 medals, male participants have won 47 medals (12-17-18) while women have claimed 44 (9-18-19) while seven have come in mixed events.

India had 95 medals at the end of competitions on Friday night with the men’s hockey team winning the gold medal by beating Japan in the final.

On Saturday, Aditi Gopichand Swamy added a bronze and then Jyothi Surekha Vennam won the gold in the Compound Women’s Individual archery competition to take the count to 97.

Ojas Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma bagged gold and silver respectively in the Compound Men’s Individual archery to take the count to 99. The women’s kabaddi team then pushed it to the 100 mark.

This is India’s highest-ever medal haul in the Asian Games, surpassing the 70 medals that the country won in the previous edition of the Games in Indonesia in 2018.

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Harmilan Bains Channels Mother’s Legacy

The 800m race in the Asian Games is very important for her. It was at this distance that her mother Madhuri Singh won a silver medal in the 2002 edition in Busan….reports Asian Lite News

Halfway through the race, India’s Harmilan Bains was stuck in a crowd in the sixth position, jostling to get out of it and make a dash for the finish line.

The 800m race in the Asian Games is very important for her. It was at this distance that her mother Madhuri Singh won a silver medal in the 2002 edition in Busan.

On Wednesday, Harmilan summoned every ounce of strength in her legs to surge past a bunch of runners to claim the silver medal in the Women’s 800m race in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Harmilan finished the race in 2:03.75 behind gold medallist Tharushi Mudiyanselage Dissanayaka, who won the race in 2:03.20. China’s Wang Chunyu took the bronze medal, overtaking her Rao Xinyu a few steps before the finish line for a season’s best timing of 2:03.90.

The focus was on Harmilan Bains as she won her second silver medal, after claiming silver in the 1500m race two days back.

“I don’t know how I ran the race today, my legs were so heavy, looked like they had no power. After winning a silver medal in the 1500m, and participating in the heats for 800 — pace in the last 800 of the 1500m race was faster than this,” said Harmilan after the race.

“Midway through the race, I was stuck in the middle of a group, looking for an opportunity to break free. My first thought was to be in bronze position with 300m to go, But then I didn’t know what happened as so many runners made a dash towards the finish line,” said Harmilan. She was sure of one thing, she had finished clear second.

The Indian 25-year-old from Mahilpur town in the Hoshiyarpur district of Punjab had come to Hangzhou to go one up on her mother by winning the gold medal in the Asian Games.

Though Harmilan fell short of her target, she still has bragging rights over her mother as she now has two silver medals at the Asian Games.

For Harmilan, who was goaded by her mother to take up athletics, the next target is to not only win a gold medal in the next Asian Games but also to qualify and participate in the Olympic Games.

She has the genes to do so as her father Amandeep Bains was also a middle-distance runner who represented India in international competitions.

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Indian Shooting Stars Blaze A Trail At Asian Games

Indian shooters achieved their best-ever Asian Games performance in Hangzhou, surpassing their 2006 Doha record by a significant margin. However, most of the gold medals came in non-Olympic Team events, which have limited relevance for Paris 2024….reports Asian Lite News

The Indian shooting squad finished its campaign in the 19th Asian Games here with a record haul of 22 medals — 7 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze medals, finishing behind host and Asian superpower China, who topped the standings in shooting with 29 medals — 16 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze medals.

The superb medal haul will definitely be a big morale booster for the medal winners as they will be next going into the Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea, from October 22 to November 2, which will have 24 quota places, two in each of the 12 individual events, and hoping to claim quota places for the Olympic Games to be held next year in Paris. The Asian Games were not an Olympic qualifying event and therefore the performance here did not count towards Olympic berths.

India has so far won seven quota places in shooting through the various World Championships, and is eligible to field a 24-member squad — 12 men and 12 women. Apart from the World Championships and various continental championships, shooters can also gain Olympic quota places, if they fail to get through the various competitions, as the best-ranked shooters who do not have the Olympic quota place will be awarded one each in the 12 events. But this will be subject to the limitation of 24 members in the squad.

While the performance by the Indian shooters in Hangzhou is cause for celebrations, considering that this is the country’s best-ever performance in shooting at the Asian Games, improving on their previous best of 13 medals at the 2006 Games Doha by a huge margin, there is also a need to be circumspect as most of the gold medals have come in Team competitions, which are not Olympic events and thus are of little use as far as Paris 2024 is concerned.

Of the seven gold medals that India has won in Hangzhou, five came in Team competitions. Only two — Palak Gulia’s breakthrough gold in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol event and Sift Kaur Samra’s World Record-embellished triumph in the women’s 50m Rifle 3-positions came in individual competitions. They were superb efforts no doubt and will definitely give the two shooters enormous confidence as they triumphed against strong Chinese opponents.

The Women’s 10m Air Pistol event turned out to be a real gain for India as Palak and Esha Singh managed a 1-2 double, winning gold and silver. Esha won two silver medals in the pistol competitions, 10m and 25m, the men could not win medals in the individual competitions. Sarabjot Singh came close to a podium position in the men’s 10m air pistol event. Ashi Chouksey too had a good Asian Games as he picked a couple of individual medals.

Anant Jeet Singh was a revelation in the Men’s Trap Individual competition as he matched the legend Abdullah Al-Rashidi, a three-time World Champion and two-time Olympic medallist of Kuwait shot-for-shot before losing out in the last couple of rounds to take the silver medal.

Hangzhou was an opportunity for the pistol shooters to make some gains and though Esha Singh did well to win silver medals in women’s 10m and 25m pistol individual events, the men barring Sarabjot Singh, who is coming back from an injury, could gain a lot.

India has so far won seven quota places for Paris 2024 through Bhowneesh Mendiratta (men’s trap), Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil (men’s 10m air rifle), Swapnil Kusale (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions), Akhil Sheoran (men’s 50m air rifle 3-positions), Rajeshwari Kumari (women’s trap), Mehuli Ghosh (women’s 10m air rifle).

The country can bag two quota places in one event subject to the limitation of 12 competitors in each section (men and women — total 24 member squad).

Thus, the task will be cut out for the Indians in the Asian Championships and the Asian Shotgun Championships that will follow.

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India’s Biggest Win Over Pakistan in Asian Games Hockey

This is India’s biggest win against Pakistan in the Asian Games and also in all matches, eclipsing the 7-1 win in the Hockey World League semifinals held in London in 2017. …reports Asian Lite News

The Indian men’s hockey team came up with one of its best-ever performances against Pakistan, handing the archrivals an embarrassing 10-2 defeat in a preliminary league match at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday.

The Indian Memn’s hockey team dominated the match with skipper Harmanpreet Singh (11′, 17’, 33′, 34′) scoring four goals and Varun Kumar (41’, 54′) contributing a brace. Mandeep Singh (8′), Sumit (30’), Shamsher Singh (46′), and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (49′) scored a goal each for India to get the win. Muhammad Khan (38′), and Abdul Rana (45′) scored the goals for Pakistan.

This is India’s biggest win against Pakistan in the Asian Games and also in all matches, eclipsing the 7-1 win in the Hockey World League semifinals held in London in 2017. 

For many fans, it would also seem like sweet revenge for India’s 1-7 defeat to Pakistan in the final of the 1982 Asian Games. However, former India international Joaquim Carvalho, who played in that 1982 final, said this win should not be rated  very highly as this Pakistan is not a patch on the 1982 squad.

“You can’t compare this Pakistan team with any of their former teams. They looked like college boys. Pakistan hockey has gone down totally,” he told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.

Carvalho said the Indian team played well but that was expected as they have been dominating Pakistan in recent matches. 

In the field on Saturday, India captain Harmanpreet Singh instantly started testing Pakistan with long passes inside the striking circle. An attacking move from the right flank from Mandeep Singh broke down after a miscommunication with Jarmanpreet Singh. But Mandeep Singh (8′) made up for it a few minutes later, putting the ball into the nets to give India a 1-0 lead. 

It was not all one-way traffic as Pakistan too produced some good attacks.

Goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak made a solid save after Pakistan earned an early Penalty Corner, and a minute later, Harmanpreet Singh (11′) successfully converted a penalty stroke to make it 2-0 for India to close out the first quarter.

India earned an early penalty corner at the start of the second quarter, and Harmanpreet Singh (17′) scored the third goal for his side with a powerful drag-flick. Sumit remained alert in defence and deflected the danger away with ease after Pakistan began a counter-attack in search of their first goal. 

Veteran Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a crucial save with his left foot after Pakistan earned a late Penalty Corner. Sumit (30′) deflected the ball into the nets at the stroke of halftime to put India 4-0 ahead heading into the break.

An early error in defence in the second half from Pakistan led to India earning their second penalty stroke, and Harmanpreet Singh (33′) converted it with a picture-perfect scoop to complete his hat-trick. A minute later, the Indian skipper Harmanpreet (34′) converted a penalty corner to make it 6-0 for his side. 

Pakistan finally got on board with Muhammad Khan (38′) scoring from a penalty corner of their own. 

Varun Kumar (41′) tapped the ball into the nets after receiving a pass from Sukhjeet Singh to make it 7-1 for India. But Pakistan pulled another goal back as Abdul Rana (45′) converted a Penalty Corner. India went into the final quarter with a 7-2 lead.

The fourth quarter started with Shamsher Singh (46′) picking a brilliant pass inside the circle, and turning around to hit it into the nets to make it 8-2 for India. Pakistan offered plenty of space to Lalit Kumar Upadhyay (49′), and the Indian forward struck the 9th goal for his side. 

Varun Kumar (54′) scored his second goal of the match from a Penalty Corner to push India’s goal tally into the double figures. PR Sreejesh saved late Penalty corners from Pakistan, and India won the match 10-2.

Indian men’s hockey team will next face off against Bangladesh on Monday (October 2). 

ALSO READ: Esha Singh’s Olympic Dream Fuels Asian Games Quest

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Esha Singh’s Olympic Dream Fuels Asian Games Quest

New Delhi, Sept 27 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted this photo on X (formerly Twitter) congratulating Indian shooter Esha Singh on winning gold medal in women's 25 m pistol team event at the ongoing Asian Games being held in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

Esha secured a silver medal for India in the Women’s 25m Pistol Individual event at the Asian Games, following her earlier contribution to the country’s gold medal victory in the Team event during the morning alongside her teammates…reports Asian Lite News

Esha Singh, who took up shooting at the age of 9 after visiting a range in her hometown Hyderabad, had set winning a medal in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou as one of her main aims for this year besides qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.

On Wednesday, she fulfilled her first dream of winning an Asian Games medal — with a double bonanza bagging gold and silver in the Women’s 25m Pistol Team and Individual events, respectively, here at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre.

Esha won a silver medal for India in the Women’s 25m Pistol Individual event at the Asian Games after helping the country bag gold in the Team event in the morning along with teammates Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwam.

Hangzhou, Sept 27 (ANI): Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur posted this photo on X (formerly twitter) congratulating Indian shooters Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan for winning gold medal in women’s 25 m pistol team event at the ongoing Asian Games, in Hangzhou on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

Qualifying fifth among six-shooters in the Individual event after the rapid round in which she managed only 294 points while Manu shot a brilliant 296 and continued to lead with 590-28x, Esha came up with a brilliant performance when it mattered as she finished second.

Esha, who along with the experienced Manu, had qualified for the final in the Individual, shot a score of 34 points and finished second behind China’s Rui Liu, who set a new Asian Games record with a total of 38 points, improving the previous mark of 34 points set by India’s Rahi Sarnobat and set in Jakarta/Palembang (Indonesia) in the 2018 edition.

Korea’s Jiin Yang took the bronze medal with a score of 29 points after winning a shoot-off with China’s Sixuan Feng. India’s Manu Bhaker lost out on a medal and finished fifth.

“I feel very grateful and proud of myself for the way I performed. I don’t think I can put into words how I feel right now because emotions are exploding. I am just very happy,” Esha said after winning two medals on Wednesday.

Esha, 18, who trains at Olympian Gagan Narang’s Gun For Glory Academy in Hyderabad, literally claimed glory on Wednesday by winning two medals, just like compatriot Sift Kaur Samra, the rifle shooter from Punjab, who bagged gold in Women’s 50m Rifle 3-positions Individual with a world record and silver in the Team competition.

Esha was placed in joint-second position after the precision round in the Women’s 25m Pistol Individual competition as Manu led with 294-14x. Esha had a score of 292-9x, the same as China’s Feng Sixuan. She came up with 294 in the rapid section and was placed fifth with a score of 586-17x.

But the final was a different story altogether as Esha went from strength to strength while Manu lost her way and ended fifth.

In the first competitive stage, Esha shot 10 points and moved up to the joint third spot with China’s Sixuan Feng. Another Chinese Rui Liu shot into the lead with 13 points while Korea’s Jiin Yang was in second with 11 points. Manu managed a score of 9 in this stage and slipped to fifth.

Competitors from Taipei and Singapore were eliminated while a shooter from Iran went out next as Rui Liu, Esha and Jiin Yang maintained their top three positions.

In the next round, Manu was eliminated as she ended with a score of 16 points. There was a tie between Korea’s Yang and China’s Feng Sixhuan and the Korean emerged on top in the shoot-off, to set off a fight for the second spot with Esha. However, the Indian shooter maintained her composure and eventually finished with the silver medal.

The young shooter from Hyderabad said she made some technical mistakes she should have avoided. “There were a few technical things that I should have done (better) but overall I feel I did a very good performance.”

Having fulfilled her first dream, Esha will now be looking forward to getting the next target — the Paris Olympic Games. For that, she or any of the other pistol shooters will have to bag a quota place for India. That’s now is the 18-year-old’s next target.

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Golden Glory For India In Women’s T20 Cricket

Monday’s gold medal match was also Harmanpreet Kaur’s 100th game as T20I captain, who returned after her two-match suspension was over…reports Asian Lite News

Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues stitched a crucial 73-run partnership, followed by young fast-bowling all-rounder Titas Sadhu bowling a deadly spell of 3-6 in four overs to help India beat Sri Lanka by 19 runs and win the country’s first gold medal in women’s T20 event at the Asian Games.

The gold medal in Asian Games is a huge prize and a historic moment for the Indian women’s cricket team after enduring a heartbreak at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, where they ended up with the silver medal after losing to Australia.

Monday’s gold medal match was also Harmanpreet Kaur’s 100th game as T20I captain, who returned after her two-match suspension was over. India had got past Malaysia in quarter-final and defeated Bangladesh, the eventual bronze medal winners, in the semi-final in their quest to win the elusive gold medal.

Electing to bat first, Smriti and Jemimah made 46 and 42 respectively on a tough pitch with turn and awkward bounce while also throwing up some puffs of dust. After the duo fell, India lost wickets in quick succession to finish with 116/7.

Titas, Player of the Match in U19 Women’s T20 World Cup final for her spell of 2-6 earlier this year, picked three wickets in a spell full of accuracy, including a double-wicket maiden first over.

Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad took two wickets while Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and Devika Vaidya had a scalp each to contribute in India’s gold medal win in their first-ever participation in the event as Sri Lanka ended up at 97/8.

India’s innings began with Smriti beautifully bringing out her cover drive against Oshadi Ranasinghe for four, before Shafali Verma played a sublime on-drive against Udeshika Prabodhani. But Sri Lanka quickly began to build-up pressure and that resulted in Shafali being stumped for nine.

Smriti broke free from the pressure by hitting a six – a gorgeous lofted drive over long-on off Sugandika Kumari and a four to sign off from power-play, followed by pouncing on full toss and short balls to get runs. She found able support in Jemimah, who used sweep and cut to good effect against the spinners while keeping scoreboard ticking through strike-rotation.

When it looked like India will post a strong total, Sri Lanka bounced back as Smriti miscued her slog-sweep against Inoka Ranaweera. Richa Ghosh’s promotion backfired as she was caught behind off Inoka. Harmanpreet and Pooja fell in quick succession, followed by Jemimah and Amanjot Kaur being dismissed in final over as India made only 27 runs in last five overs.

Chamari Athapaththu began Sri Lanka’s chase strongly by heaving Deepti Sharma high over deep mid-wicket for six and steered one past slip for four in the opening over. But the introduction of Titas turned the game on its head – having Anushka Sanjeevani caught at mid-off on her first ball and getting a nip-backer to castle Vishmi Gunaratne through the gate. 

She then removed Chamari in her next over as the Sri Lankan skipper miscued a drive and was caught by fielder at cover moving to her right. Hasini Perera tried to revive Sri Lanka by hitting four fours and a six in her 22-ball 25.

But once she holed out to deep mid-wicket off Rajeshwari, Sri Lanka couldn’t come back in contention despite some boundaries coming from bats of Oshadi and Nilakshi de Silva, as India finally got their hands at a gold medal after beating the same opposition in their Women’s Asia Cup triumph last year.

Brief Scores: India 116/7 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 46, Jemimah Rodrigues 42; Udeshika Prabodhani 2-16, Inoka Ranaweera 2-21) beat Sri Lanka 97/8 in 20 overs (Hasini Perera 25, Nilakshi de Silva 23; Titas Sadhu 3-6, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-20) by 19 runs

ALSO READ: Indian Shooters Start Strong at Asian Games

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Indian Shooters Start Strong at Asian Games

India’s young shooter Ramita played a key role, securing a silver in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Team event and a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle Individual competition as they began their medal quest at the Asian Games shooting competition…reports Asian Lite News

A comparatively bad score of 9.9 on the 16th turn put paid to the hopes of young Indian shooter Ramita Jindal as the 19-year-old had to be satisfied with a bronze medal in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Individual section at the 19th Asian Games shooting competition here on Sunday.

Ramita, who was sharing the second spot at that time slipped down and though she shot scores of 10.0, 10.5, 10.7, 10.8, 10,7, and 10.4 after that and managed to win the bronze medal with a score of 230.1. China’s Yuting Huang bagged the gold medal with an Asian Games record score of 252.7 while her compatriot Jiayu Han claimed the silver with a score of 251.3.

However, it was a good day for India as the shooters made a fine start by winning silver and bronze medals on the first day of competitions.

India started their quest for medals in the Asian Games shooting competition with young woman shooter Ramita playing the lead role in winning two medals — a silver in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Team competition and a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle Individual section.

Ramita with teammates Mehuli Ghosh and Ashi Chouksey finished second behind China, who had a total of 1896.6 while Mongolia took the bronze medal with a score of 1880.0. China stormed to the gold medal with a total of 1896.6.

Ramita came up with the best score of 631.9, Mehuli had a score of 630.0 and Ashi tallied 623.3 points to bag the silver medal in the event.

The focus on the first morning was on the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Individual event as two Indians had finished among the top eight in the qualifying round. Ramita was placed second, sandwiched between the two Chinese while Mehuli was fifth with the Chinese taking three of the first four spots.

After the first five shots in the final, Ramita was third with 52.7 and Mehuli fourth with 52.3, but the two Chinese were on top with Han Jiyau leading with 53.2. After 10 shots, Ramita was tied with two others in the second while Mehuli was down to sixth as Huang took over the lead with 105.3.

As Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chi became the first to be eliminated after the 12th shot, Ramita and Mehuli were placed third and fourth with the Korean Lee Eunseo moving up to second behind Huang. The two Mongolians were next to bow out and after the 18th, Mehuli went into a shoot-off with Lee as Ramita held third spot behind the two Chinese.

Mehuli won the shoot-off with a 10.3 to Lee’s 10.1 and India were assured of a second shooting medal on the day. Thereafter, Ramita held on for third as Mehuli bowed out in fourth after the 20th shot. Ramita’s quest for silver was cut short by Han after the 22nd shot by a margin of just 0.3 points.

Ramita refused to blame the 9.9 score for her missing a chance to fight for the silver medal. 

“It is part of the game. You can’t think too much about one bad shot and rather focus on your one. I did just that after that bad shot and I am happy to win my first medal in the senior category,” said Ramita after her victory. She said she just did her regular process and focused on the next shot to recover.

She was very happy with her performance as it was her first medal at the senior level.

“It was the best result of my career, my first senior medal in shooting. I prepared very well, and I really enjoyed it. “I was 14 when I began. There are no other shooters in the family but I took it up because my father’s friend told me, ‘Have a try and see what happens’. So I started for fun and I really enjoyed it.”

Ramita, who took to shooting at the age of 14 when a friend of her father introduced the sport to her, said she will now focus on the upcoming Asian Championship where she will get a chance to win a quota place for Paris Olympics. Though the Baku World Cup last month was Ramita’s first international event at the senior level, the young shooter, who has won gold in the Junior World Championships for India, said she was very happy to have won two medals on the first day of competition.

Though the 19-year-old said she aimed to go for a medal in the Los Angeles Olympics but she will try to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

“I’m focusing on LA (the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games) on a long-term project but I am preparing for Paris also.”

The Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol had its first qualification day on Sunday. India’s Anish was lying sixth and within the qualifying spot, after the precision round with a score of 292. Chinese world champion Li Yuehong was leading with a score of 296. Vijayveer Sidhu and Adarsh were further back with scores of 289 and 287 respectively.

The competition will continue on Monday with the second phase followed by the final.

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Indian Shooting Squad Eyes Success at 19th Asian Games in China

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has picked a 33-member Indian shooting squad that will take part in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou…reports Asian Lite News

Top young shooters like Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudranksh Patil, Sarabjot Singh, Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Prithviraj Toindaman, Ganemat Sekhon and Rajeshwari Kumari have been selected in the Indian squad for upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has picked a 33-member Indian shooting squad that will take part in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, beginning September 23, hoping to improve on the country’s haul of 9 medals from shooting in the 2018 edition of the games held in Jakarta/Palembang in Indonesia.

The team does not include Saurabh Chaudhary, who in 2018 became the youngest Indian shooter to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, and Rahi Sarnobat, who won the other gold for India in the 2018 Games.

Meanwhile, the NRAI, the governing body for the Olympic sport of shooting in the country, also announced on Saturday a 35-member team for the Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea, coming up in October this year.

The competition assumes added importance, given a total of 24 Paris Olympics quota places are there to be won, two in each of the 12 individual Olympic events across the three disciplines of Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun, the NRAI informed in a release on Saturday.

India will be fielding entries in all 16 events, including four Mixed Team events in the Asian Championships and will also be fielding four additional shooters, Rudrankksh Patil, Mehuli Ghosh, Sift Kaur Samra and Rajeshwari Kumari, who will compete for ranking points only. The mentioned four have already secured Paris quotas and are ineligible to win quotas as a result.

The shooters have so far won seven quota places for the Paris Games and will look to pick up their first quotas in Pistol and Skeet events at the Asian Championships, besides filling their remaining berths in the Rifle and Trap disciplines.

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