Asian Games 2023: Sift Kaur Clinches Historic Gold With World Record-Breaking Performance; Medal Rush For India Continues In Shooting – News18

India aimed for the stars and reached the very top, as India’s campaign in the Asian Games today has been off to a tremendous start, clinching Gold in the women’s 25m Pistol Team event and women’s Silver in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team event.

Following this, the Men’s Skeet team also went on to clinch a Bronze for the nation, along with sailor Vishnu Saravana who also brought home the Bronze.

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Women’s 25m Pistol Team event:

India hit the bullseye here today as the team of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan clinched the gold with a stellar performance at the Asian Games 2023.

The trio combined to put up a mammoth total score of 1759, merely edging out runners-up and hosts China who ended the event with a score of 1756. Republic of Korea took home the bronze as they finished with a total of 1742.

India’s Manu Bhaker topped the qualification round with a blistering score of 590. Meanwhile, teammates Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan finished a formidable fifth and seventh with scores of 586 and 583 respectively. Since only two shooters per country are allowed in the final, Sangwan misses the cut and Singh takes her place.

This event marks much-sought after redemption for 21-year old Manu Bhaker who, in the 2018 Asian Games, scored a game’s record score of 593 in the qualification round of 25m Air pistol event but failed to win a medal as she finished 6th in the final.

Bhaker has consistently proved to be one of India’s top guns as she racked up the accolades and acclaim over major event such as the 2018 Youth Olympics and the 2019 ISSF World Cup, both events where she clinched gold for India.

Her teammates are no less either as 18-year old Esha Singh and 20-year old Rhythm Sangwan have both were integral to India cliching the top spot in the 25m Pistol event at the Cairo World Cup in 2022.

The final event for Bhaker and Singh will begin at around 12PM IST today.

Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position event:

The honours for today started with the Indian trio of Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey and Manini Kaushik clinching the silver medal in the women’s 50m 3 Positions team event with a total score of 1764.

The trio missed out on the top spot, which was claimed by China, by nine points, while the Republic of Korea won the bronze with a total score of 1756.

Sift Kaur Samra led the way for India as she ended the event with a stellar indidvidual score of 595, clinching second place;. Her teammate Ashi Chouskey also put up a formidable performance, ending her event with a total of 590, claiming the sixth spot whilst Manini Kaushik put up a valiant effort with a score of 580.

Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position FINALS (Individual):

Sift Kaur Samra reached the summit of it all, as the young Indian went on to create history at the 50m Rifle 3 Position Finals with a record-breaking score of 469.6, shattering the previous world record of 467.0 points which was set by Great Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh.

Samra put up a clinic going up against the likes of China’s Qiongyue Zhang who finished second in the event, and clinched India’s first-ever Gold in the Women’s 50m Rifle Position event. She outdoes the performance of Soma Dutta had won a silver in the event at the 1986 Games – 37 years ago.

The celebrations for India do not just end there though as Samra’s teammate Ashi Chouskey also put up a fabulous performance, scoring a total of 451.9 points and secured the Bronze medal for India along the way.

Men’s Skeet event: 

The men’s team picked up where the women shooters left off today for India, as the trio of Angad Bajwa, Gurjoat Khangura and Anantjeet Singh picked up a valiant Bronze at the Men’s Skeet event.

The trio put together a strong total of 355 points as to take home the Bronze, right beneath Qatar, who finished with 359 points, and China, who clinched the Gold with a total of 362 points.

Men’s Dinghy – ILCA7 event:

India keep on cruising their way to medal as sailor Vishnu Saravanan added yet another Bronze to India’s tally, clinching the medal by bagging 34 net points.

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These respective wins bring India’s total tally at the Asian Games up to 19 medals, consisting of  5 Golds, 5 Silvers, and 9 Bronzes. 

Asian Games 2023: Medal Tally,  Schedule, Results, Date, Venues & More