India's double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker won the bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol competition and Rashmika Sahgal was crowned champion in the junior women's air pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championship on Tuesday. Bhaker shot 219.7 in the eight-woman finals to finish third.
China's Qianke Ma claimed the gold medal with 243.2 after pipping Korean Jiin Yang, who settled for the silver with 241.6. Rashmika then struck gold, India's third individual yellow metal of the competition, displaying amazing career consistency to score 241.9 and finish 4.3 points ahead of silver winning Korean Han Seunghyun.
It was double delight for Rashmika (qualification score 582) as she combined with Vanshika Chaudhary (573) and Mohini Singh (565) to win the team gold in the event. Bhaker (583) also won a team bronze in women’s air pistol, alongside reigning Asian Games champion Palak (573) and Suruchi Singh (574). Both Palak and Suruchi, however, missed out on the individual final by three and two points, respectively.
In the final, Bhaker was fifth after the first five-shot series and fourth after the second, but a 10.5 on the 11th single shot took her up to second behind eventual winner Ma Qianke of China. Thereon, with Ma out of reach, it was a battle of attrition between Korean 25m pistol Olympic champion Yang Jiin, experienced Iranian Haniyeh Rostamiyan and Bhaker. The Indian fired the big shots when it mattered the most, to settle for bronze, with Haniyeh finishing fourth.
In the junior women’s final, Rashmika was involved in a battle for supremacy with Korea's Han. The Indian went past her opponent for the first time after the 13th single shot and from there never looked back, a 10.9 on her 15th being the icing on the cake. Since Monday, India has won an individual bronze and a team silver and a team bronze in the 10m air pistol events across both the senior men and women categories.
They have also swept the individual junior golds on offer in the event with Kapil Bainsla showing the way on Monday, followed up by Rashmika Sahgal on Tuesday. Also, while Kapil had a team silver in the event, Rashmika completed a golden double with help from teammates Vanshika and Mohini in the women's junior team competition.
Jonathan Gavin Antony also brought home a bronze in the junior men's air pistol, while Girish Gupta won the youth men's air pistol gold and Dev Pratap the bronze in the youth men's category. The youth team also won a gold in the event. Overall, India has so far won five gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
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