Indian shooters Akhil Sheoran and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar claimed gold and silver respectively in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers, on Friday, continuing the country’s dominant show in the continental event. Sheoran shot 460.2 to emerge victorious in the eight-men final, while Tokyo Olympian Tomar finished second on the podium with a score of 459.0.
Thailand’s Thongphaphum Vongsukdee settled for the bronze medal after managing 448.8. The duo of Sheoran and Tomar combined with Swapnil Kusale to also win the team gold medal in the same event ahead of Chinese and South Korean teams. The Indians aggregated 1758 points, a huge 14 points more than the second-placed team.
In the individual qualification, Tomar was placed third with a total score of 588, while Sheoran finished sixth with 586. India’s Niraj Kumar Chain Singh also participated in the qualification but for gaining ranking points only and was not eligible for entry into the final.
The medals won Friday took India’s tally to 10 gold, eight silver and six bronze in the evn. In the 50m rifle 3 positions, all three Indian men made the finals of the individual competition comfortably with Aishwary taking second, Sheoran third and Swapnil (584) the fourth qualifying spots, as China’s Yu Hao topped the 44-strong field with a 589.
Sheoran reaped the rewards for consistent shooting in the 45-shot final and was in the reckoning after every position. He went from strength to strength, breaching 153 in the first kneeling position, 154 in prone and then shot 100.9 over the first 10 standing shots to zoom to second place.
Besides Tomar, Thailand’s Vongsukdee was engaged in an intense competition as the final five single shots in the standing position ensued, and Sheoran produced three big scores to wrest the gold ahead of his challengers.
Rapid-fire quotas to be decided on Saturday
At least a couple of Indian men have also put themselves in serious contention for the one Paris Olympics quota place that they can win between themselves in the 25m rapid-fire pistol event.
After the first day of qualification, Adarsh Singh and Vijayveer Sidhu were in the sixth and seventh spots respectively with identical scores of 288. Gurpreet Singh was further down with 281. The top six qualify and at least three shooters above them from Korea and Japan are ineligible for quotas at this stage.
