Asian Games 2023: Indian shooters sizzle, record best-ever medal haul

The young Indian shooting brigade sizzled at the Asian Games 2023 steamrolling the rivals to win two gold and three silver on Friday and record their bestever medal haul in the continental showpieceThe grand success of the shooters over the last six days has seen them amass 18 medals so far including six gold and seven silver surpassing the 14 they had won during the 2006 Doha Asian Games in an era dominated by the likes of the legendary Jaspal RanaPalak Gulia and Esha Singh made it a onetwo in individual 10m air pistol while the trio of Esha Palak and Divya won the country a team silver in the event before the triumvirate of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran added another team gold in 50m rifle 3 positionsThe 22yearold Aishwary added another individual silver in rifle 3 positions fighting an early elimination before finishing second best to a Chinese marksman who set an Asian Games recordTwo teenaged dreamyeyed shooters Palak Gulia and Esha Singh set ablaze the shooting range by powering to a goldsilver finish in 10m air pistol eventIn one of the most trailblazing efforts seen by the Indians the young duo challenged each other for the top podium finish until 17yearold Palak clinched the gold medal and Esha the silverPakistans Talat Kishmala settled for a bronze after giving a tough fight to EshaThis is the first major senior individual medal for Palak in an international competition after she gave notice of her precocious talent just last year She shot 2421 in the finals for a Games recordEsha who had won the individual silver in 25m pistol on Wednesday and was part of the trio that won the 10m air pistol team silver along with Palak and Divya TS earlier on Friday settled for silver scoring 2397 It marked the first time that two Indian shooters have finished onetwo on the podium at the Asian Games50m rifle tastes unprecedented successThe unprecedented success of Indian marksmen continued in the 50m rifle arena as well with the mens 3positions team comprising the young trio of Aishwary 591 Swapnil 591 and Sheoran 587 overcoming the Chinese challenge with a world record score of 1769 to grab the top podium finishAishwary and Swapnil shot superbly to make the individual finals as well They were placed first and second after the qualification round something never seen before in a sport dominated by the Chinese at the Asian levelAlso Read This medal is for ManipurThe third Indian in the competition Akhil despite finishing fifth with 587 in qualification missed out on the eightteam finals as only two shooters per country are allowed in the individual medal roundAishwary misses individual goldThe finals though was a bit of an anticlimax with both Swapnil and Aishwary missing the gold medalAishwary signed off with a silver after Chinas Du Linshu created an Asian Games record score of 4606 to deny the 22yearold Indian the top podium spotAishwary had a final score of 4597 while home team marksman Tain Jiaming took the third place behind the Indian with a score of 4483The biggest setback though was for veteran Indian marksman Swapnil who was gunning for a sureshot gold after leading for a major part of the finals but a rank poor shot of 76 saw the 28yearold take a mighty tumble from No1 position to fifth in the standing position That virtually eliminated him from medal contention Esha leads the wayTeenager Esha led from the front as she guided the Indian womens 10m air pistol team to a silver medalThe trio of 18yearold Esha 579 Palak 577 and Divya TS 575 aggregated 1731 points for their silver medal while China took the gold with a total of 1736 which is an Asian Games recordEsha had also claimed a silver medal in the womens individual 25m pistol event on Wednesday while the trio of Manu Bhaker Esha and Rhythm Sangwan had fired in tandem to shoot the gold medal in the womens 25m pistol team event on the same dayWith agency inputs