Vivaan Kapoor and Esha Singh came up with dominant performances in winning the junior men’s trap and junor women’s air pistol gold medals in the Asian shooting championship on Thursday.
On a day when Chinki Yadav kept herself in the race for the Olympic quota in women’s 25-metre sports pistol event, with a half way score of 292, two points behind the leader, it was the juniors who swelled the collection for India with 10 medals including five gold.
Vivaan was all class as he won gold by beating compatriot Bhowneesh Mendiratta 45-42, after having topped qualification with 120 out of 125. Along with Manavaditya Rathore, the Indian trio won the team gold with a score of 347, eight points better than China.
Esha, who had swept the women’s, junior and youth gold medals in the last National championship in Kerala as a 13-year-old, proved too good as she beat Jeong Hyo of Korea by 4.9 points for the gold. Along with Priya Raghav who won the bronze and Yuvika Tomar, Esha also clinched the team gold. Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkar won the junior women’s rifle 3-position gold, but the team had to be content with the silver.
The results: Junior men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Yu Hao (Chn) 459.5 (WRJ) 1166; 2. Niraj Kumar 455.7 (1166); 3. Sheng Lihao (Chn) 442.5 (1163); 6. Harshrajsinhji Gohil 406.9 (1158); 8. Nitish Kumar 395.7 (1156). MQS: Sartaj Singh Tiwana 1164. Team: 1. China 3495; 2. India 3480; 3. Korea 3451.
Trap: 1. Vivaan Kapoor 45 (120); 2. Bhowneesh Mendiratta 42 (118); 3. Li Siwei (Chn) 33 (117); 8. Manavaditya Singh Rathore 109. Team: 1. India 347; 2. China 339; 3. Kuwait 311.
Junior women: 10m air pistol: 1. Esha Singh 242.2 (579); 2. Jeong Hyo (Kor) 237.3 (568); 3. Priya Raghav 217.6 (574); 7. Yuvika Tomar 133.7 (568). Team: 1. India 1721 (WRJ); 2. China 1702; 3. Chinese Taipei 1687.
50m rifle 3-position: 1. Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkar 453.1 (1159); 2. Yu Jianuan (Chn) 448.7 (1159); 3. Ma Yuting (Chn) 439.6 (1161); 7. Ayushi Podder 397.9 (1159); 11. Nischal 1142. MQS: Vanshika Shahi 1140. Team: 1. China 3477; 2. India 3460; 3. Korea 3457.
Trap: 1. Zhang Ting (Chn) 41 (114); 2 Yang Haiyan (Chn) 38 (108); 3. Lea Korban (Lbn) 29 (110); 4. Manisha Keer 23 (107); 8. Preeti Rajak 102; 9. Aadya Tripathi 92. Team: 1. China 325; 2. India 301 .
