It was an incredible climb to the top by Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, as they squeezed their way into the men’s final after a qualifying shoot-off on 120 with six others, and eventually won the gold and silver, along with the Olympic quota places, in the Asian shooting championship here on Sunday.
It was a fitting climax for the day for India, in which the young Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar clinched the men’s rifle 3-position Olympic quota with the bronze medal. Asian champion Angad Vir pipped Olympian Mairaj 6-5 in the tie-shoot for the gold, after the two had tied on 56.
With three more Olympic quota places from the day, the best for Indian shooting this season, the tally for the country went up to 14.
Such an overwhelming performance, pushed aside the brilliant performance by Manu Bhaker, who won the mixed air pistol gold with Abhishek Verma, beating the other Indian pair of Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Saurabh Chaudhary 16-10.
The juniors were not to be left behind as Esha Singh and Sarabjot Singh won the mixed air pistol junior gold with a 16-10 win over Korea. The other Indian team of Priya Raghav and Akash finished fifth in the second phase, narrowly missing a medal, after having topped qualification in the first stage with 580.
The results: Mixed team air pistol: 1. India (Manu Bhaker, Abhishek Verma) 16 (387, 577); 2. India-A (Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Saurabh Chaudhary) 10 (387, 576); 3. Iran 17 (386, 575); 4. China 15 (387, 581).
Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Kim Jonghyun (Kor) 459.9 (1178); 2. Zhao Zhonghao (Chn) 459.1 (1173); 3. Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar 449.1 (1168); 17. Chain Singh 1155; 20. Parul Kumar 1154. MQS: Sanjeev Rajput 1163.
Team: 1. China 3505; 2. Korea 3499; 3. India 3477.
Skeet: 1. Angad Vir Singh Bajwa 56(6) 120 (14, 22); 2. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 56(5) 120 (14, 24); 3. Saud Mukhamediyev Habib (Kuw) 45 (120)14, 23; 21. Smit Singh 117.
Team: 1. Qatar 360; 2. Kuwait 358; 3. Kazakhstan 357; 4. India 357.
Women: Skeet: 1. Wei Meng (Chn) 20 (124); 2. Zhang Donglian (Chn) 18 (120); 3. Kim Minji (Kor) 17 (117)3; 10. Darshna Rathore 114; 11. Ganemat Sekhon 113; 12. Saniya Sheikh 112.
Team: 1. China 363; 2. Thailand 350; 3. India 339.
Junior women: Mixed team air pistol: 1. India (Esha Singh, Sarabjot Singh) 16 (381, 569); 2. Korea 10 (378, 574); 3. China-A 16 (376, 569); 4. China 10 (376, 565); 5. India-A (Priya Raghav, Akash) 375 (580) .
