India end with 50 golds, best ever showing

 Asian Shooting Championship Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Shymkent, Kazakhstan

NRAI President Mr. Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo at the medal ceremony of the Men’s Skeet event in the 16th Asian Shooting Championship. 

It is a spectacular performance and it is quite clear that the confidence of the Shooting ecosystem is sky-high and significantly boosted by our performance at the Paris Olympics. Particularly pleasing is the performance of the juniors, which tells you that Indian shooting has just begun and greater things are sure to come in the near future-  Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, President, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI)

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Curtains were drawn at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship (All events) in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, and after 12 exhilarating competition days, the Indian team registered a historic best ever showing, finishing with an unprecedented 50 golds to top the tally- also a first in the history of the premiere continental championship.

Particularly pleasing was the senior team’s performance in the 15 Olympic events across the rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines, where Indian shooters won six gold, two silver and three bronze medals, finishing behind global powerhouse China, who won eight of those golds, with hosts Kazakhstan picking up the other.

“It is a spectacular performance and it is quite clear that the confidence of the Shooting ecosystem is sky-high and significantly boosted by our performance at the Paris Olympics. Particularly pleasing is the performance of the juniors, which tells you that Indian shooting has just begun and greater things are sure to come in the near future,” said a pleased Shri. Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, President, National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), on the performance.

India ended the championship just short of the 100-medal mark, with 26 silver and 23 bronze medals to go with the 50 gold. The hosts were second with 70 medals and 21 gold while China was third overall with 15 gold and 37 medals.

The highlight of the senior’s performance being two-time Olympian Elavenil Valarivan’s second Asian crown (she won a double gold partnering Arjun Babuta in the mixed team event) in women’s air rifle with an Asian record score, Neeru Dhanda’s first ever Asian championship gold for India in women’s trap, Sift Kaur Samra’s first Asian title in women’s 50 rifle 3 positions (3P) and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar’s defense of his men’s 3P title.

Indian junior shooters also reiterated the depth the country has in the sport by completely dominating all the Olympic events to win 10 golds to go with four silver and bronze medals each.

The other golds came in the youth competitions and team events as well as in non-Olympic events. Former world champion Ankur Mittal for example, won the men’s Double Trap gold with a world record score of 107, while Rio Olympian Gurpreet Singh struck gold in the men’s 25m Standard Pistol event.

Link to Asia Shooting website: https://www.asia-shooting.org/competition/16th-asian-shooting-championship-all-events/

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