Teen Esha leads India’s gold rush
China claim two golds, two silver, and three bronze
INDIA’S junior shooters showed their class at the Losail Shooting Complex on Thursday claiming three golds out of the five finals on the fourth day of competition at the 14th Asian Shooting Championship.
Standing tall among all was teenager Esha Singh excelling over Korean and Chinese shooters in the 10m Air Pistol (Junior) event with 242.2 points.
Korean shooter Hyo Jeong bagged the silver with 237.3 points, while India’s Priya Raghav clinched bronze scoring 217.6.
Esha also clinched the team gold for India.
Just 14, Esha, daughter of a former car rally driver Sachin Singh, has been an emering name in India’s shooting fraternity. She had also displayed great form and won silver in the same event at the ISSF Junior (U-21) World Cup in Suhl, Germany, in July this year.
“The competition was good, but I was in good form.
It is always nice to win a gold in an international event. This gold is a special one too,’’ said the petite Esha.
“Jeon gave me a good competition in the middle. But I stayed focused and luckily I could hit my targets before I ended with a good score. It’s always a nice feeling when you end at the top of the podium,’’ she added.
India have won 23 medals so far, including five gold, with the juniors accounting for 18, apart from the Olympic quota in men’s air rifle through Deepak Kumar.
Meanwhile, India’s Chinki Yadav kept herself in the race for the Olympic quota in women’s 25-metre sports pistol event with a score of 292, being placed fifth.
South Korea’s Kim Jangmi, London 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the event, topped the event’s qualification standings with a total of 294 points.
That was matched by Iran’s Haniyeh Rostamiyan, who had to settle for second place.
Completing the top three was China’s Zhang Jingjing with 292 points.
The final of the event is on Friday at noon.
In the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Junior) event, India’ Bhakti Khamkar won the gold, but the team had to be content with the silver.
Khamkar shot at total of 453.1 points, ahead of China’s Jianuan Yu (448.7), and Youting Ma (439.6).
The men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Junior) event was won by China’s Hao Yu (459.5), while India’s Niraj Kumar took the silver at 455.7, and China’s Lihao Sheng the bronze (442.5).
Swelling India’s medals tally further were juniors Vivaan Kapoor and Bhowmeesh Mendiratta, who took the men’s Trap gold and silver with 45 and 42 successful shots respectively. China’s Siwei Li, who got 33, had to settle for the bronze.
The women’s Trap (Junior) event saw China’s Ting Zhang (41), and Haiyan Yang (38) finish one-two. Lebanon’s S Korban (29) was third, ahead of India’s Manisha Keer (23).
China claimed two golds, two silver and three bronze from today’s five junior events.