Asian Games: Indian trio shoots gold in women's 25m pistol event

The triumvirate of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan fired in tandem to shoot the gold medal in the women's 25m pistol team event as Indian shooters dominated proceedings at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.

Manu, Esha and Rhythm totalled 1759 to finish on top of the podium and help the country clinch its fourth gold medal in the ongoing sporting extravaganza. This was the second gold medal for India in shooting in these Games.

The sensational Manu also topped the qualification after finishing the last rapid-fire series with 98.

The Chinese bagged the silver medal with 1756, while the shooters from South Korea settled for the third position with a total score of 1742.

They claimed the top prize minutes after another trio of Indian shooters dished out an excellent performance to win a silver medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 position event.

Ashi Chouksey, Manini Koushik and Sift Kaur Samra combined to shoot a total of 1764 points in the qualification to finish second on the podium.

Hosts China won the gold with an aggregate score of 1773, while South Korea bagged the bronze with a total score of 1756.

Samra and Chouksey qualified for the finals as well by finishing second and sixth respectively, while Kaushik bowed out in the individual event by finishing 18th.

Sift scored a total of 594 to create a joint new Asian record for qualifying.

While Kaushik missed out on the final, Samra shot 100 in two series to finish with a total of 397 after kneeling and prone positions.

Samra and Chouksey were excellent in their three series, more so in standing section, to finish in the top 8 and qualify for the individual final.

Kaushik said after the event, "I'm happy for my teammates and that we got a silver in the team competition. I'm just focusing on the positives at the moment.

"At least I have a medal to show. I am not coming back empty-handed, so I am happy about that. I'm happy about my country, about my teammates, about my staff and all the people working with us."

On whether her tears after her competition were happy or sad tears, she said, "Both. I'm happy for my team and for my country, but I need to work on myself. There are mixed feelings but I'm just focusing on the positive sides at the moment."

In the women's 25m pistol, Manu (590) topped the qualification round, Esha (586) finishes fifth. Rhythm (583) ended seventh but since only two shooters per country are allowed in the final, she missed the cut.

Manu, especially, was at the top of her game as she shot nine 10s and 1 nine to get a total of 99 and maintain her hegemony in the qualification. The Youth Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion started with a brilliant 99/100 in her first rapid series to signal her intention.