Asian Championship: Samrat Rana wins bronze in men’s 10m air pistol, India takes team silver
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World champion Samrat Rana won the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the Asian Championship on the opening day of competition on Wednesday, while India secured the team silver in the same discipline.
Rana, who had impressed in the qualification round with a score of 581 to finish second, was unable to reproduce that form in the final. The 21-year-old shooter from Karnal finished with 221.5 points in the medal round.
China’s world No.1 Hu Kai claimed the gold with 243.0 points, while Kazakhstan’s Valeriy Rakhimzhan took silver with 241.0.
Rana had entered the competition as one of the favourites after his gold medal-winning performance at last year’s World Championships in Cairo. His strong showing in the qualification raised hopes of another top finish at the season-opening continental event.
The other Indian finalist, Sharvan Kumar, narrowly missed out on a podium finish and placed fourth in the eight-shooter final.
In the team event, India combined scores of 581 by Rana, 578 by Sharvan, and 573 by Varun Tomar, the World Championships bronze medallist, to total 1,732 points.
Uzbekistan also finished with an aggregate of 1,732 but won the gold on the basis of a higher inner-10 count of 58 compared to India’s 52.
Kazakhstan claimed the bronze with 1,731 points.
India has fielded its largest-ever squad of 118 shooters at the championship, with strong participation also coming from Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.