Asian Games 2023: Indian shooters sizzle, record best-ever medal haul

Indian men`s 10m rifle team (Pic: PTI)

The young Indian shooting brigade sizzled at the Asian Games 2023, steam-rolling the rivals to win two gold and three silver on Friday and record their best-ever medal haul in the continental showpiece.

The grand success of the shooters over the last six days has seen them amass 18 medals so far, including six gold and seven silver, surpassing the 14 they had won during the 2006 Doha Asian Games in an era dominated by the likes of the legendary Jaspal Rana.

Palak Gulia and Esha Singh made it a one-two in individual 10m air pistol, while the trio of Esha, Palak and Divya won the country a team silver in the event, before the triumvirate of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran added another team gold in 50m rifle 3 positions.

The 22-year-old Aishwary added another individual silver in rifle 3 positions, fighting an early elimination before finishing second best to a Chinese marksman, who set an Asian Games record.

Two teenaged dreamy-eyed shooters, Palak Gulia and Esha Singh, set ablaze the shooting range by powering to a gold-silver finish in 10m air pistol event.

In one of the most trailblazing efforts seen by the Indians, the young duo challenged each other for the top podium finish until 17-year-old Palak clinched the gold medal and Esha the silver.

Pakistan's Talat Kishmala settled for a bronze after giving a tough fight to Esha.

This is the first major senior individual medal for Palak in an international competition after she gave notice of her precocious talent just last year. She shot 242.1 in the finals for a Games record.

Esha, who had won the individual silver in 25m pistol on Wednesday and was part of the trio that won the 10m air pistol team silver along with Palak and Divya TS earlier on Friday, settled for silver, scoring 239.7. It marked the first time that two Indian shooters have finished one-two on the podium at the Asian Games.

50m rifle tastes unprecedented success

The unprecedented success of Indian marksmen continued in the 50m rifle arena as well with the men's 3-positions team, comprising the young trio of Aishwary (591), Swapnil (591) and Sheoran (587), overcoming the Chinese challenge with a world record score of 1769 to grab the top podium finish.

Aishwary and Swapnil shot superbly to make the individual finals as well. They were placed first and second after the qualification round, something never seen before in a sport dominated by the Chinese at the Asian level.

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The third Indian in the competition, Akhil, despite finishing fifth with 587 in qualification, missed out on the eight-team finals as only two shooters per country are allowed in the individual medal round.

Aishwary misses individual gold

The finals though was a bit of an anti-climax, with both Swapnil and Aishwary missing the gold medal.

Aishwary signed off with a silver after China's Du Linshu created an Asian Games record score of 460.6 to deny the 22-year-old Indian the top podium spot.

Aishwary had a final score of 459.7, while home team marksman Tain Jiaming took the third place behind the Indian with a score of 448.3.

The biggest setback, though, was for veteran Indian marksman Swapnil, who was gunning for a sure-shot gold after leading for a major part of the finals, but a rank poor shot of 7.6 saw the 28-year-old take a mighty tumble from No.1 position to fifth in the standing position. That virtually eliminated him from medal contention.

Esha leads the way

Teenager Esha led from the front as she guided the Indian women's 10m air pistol team to a silver medal.

The trio of 18-year-old Esha (579), Palak (577) and Divya TS (575) aggregated 1731 points for their silver medal, while China took the gold with a total of 1736, which is an Asian Games record.

Esha had also claimed a silver medal in the women's individual 25m pistol event on Wednesday, while the trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha and Rhythm Sangwan had fired in tandem to shoot the gold medal in the women's 25m pistol team event on the same day.

(With agency inputs)