Asian Championship: Rich medal haul for India on Day Three

New Delhi: Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu bagged a bronze each to continue India’s medal charge at the 10th Asian Championship 10m rifle/pistol at Wako City in Japan on Sunday.

Jitu grabbed an individual bronze in the men’s 10m air pistol, which also helped the Indian team comprising Shahzar Rizvi and Omkar Singh besides Jitu, to bag the team gold in the event.

Heena claimed an individual bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol. Her effort, along with those of team mates Shri Nivetha Paramantham and Harveen Srao, helped the team clinch a silver. India added another individual bronze through Anmol Jain in the junior men’s 10m air pistol as well as a team silver in the event, thanks to the combined exploits of Anmol, Gaurav Rana and Abhishek Arya.

Having won 11 medals on the first two days of the competition, India’s medal count stands at four gold, six silver and seven bronze for a total of 17 medals so far.

In the men’s 10m air pistol, it was Shahzar Rizvi who topped qualification with a score of 583. He along with Jitu, who shot 577 to finish fifth in qualifying, made it two Indians in the eight-man final.

Omkar shot 575 to finish 10th but enough to secure the team gold for the troika with a combined score of 1,735, six points ahead of second-placed China and seven ahead of Vietnam.