Angad Bajwa, Mairaj Khan add to India’s Olympic quota places

Their medals ensured India secured a record 15 quota places for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, easily surpassing the 12 for the 2016 Rio Games and 11 for London 2012.

Olympic gold medallist coach Ennio Falco with Angad Vir Singh Bajwa (left) and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, who won the men's skeet Olympic quotas with gold and silver in the Asian Shooting Championships.

It was an incredible climb to the top by Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan, as they squeezed their way into the men’s final after a qualifying shoot-off on 120 with six others, and eventually won the gold and silver, along with the Olympic quota places, at the Asian shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.

It was a fitting climax for the day for India, in which the young Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar clinched the men’s rifle 3-position Olympic quota with the bronze medal.

Asian champion Angad Vir, who had shot a world record 60 out of 60 for that title earlier in the year, pipped Olympian Mairaj 6-5 in the tie-shoot for the gold, after the two had tied on 56.

With three more Olympic quota places from the day, the best for Indian shooting this season, the tally for the country went up to 15.

Such an overwhelming performance, pushed aside the brilliant performance by Manu Bhaker, who won the mixed air pistol gold with Abhishek Verma, beating the other Indian pair of Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Saurabh Chaudhary 16-10. It was a remarkable show by Manu, who has won four World Cup mixed gold medals with Saurabh Chaudhary this season.

The juniors were not to be left behind as Esha Singh and Sarabjot Singh won the mixed air pistol junior gold with a 16-10 win over Korea. The other Indian team of Priya Raghav and Akash finished fifth in the second phase, narrowly missing a medal, after having topped qualification in the first stage with 580.

READ: Aishwary Singh Tomar bags India's 13th Olympic quota in shooting

The results: Mixed team: Air pistol: 1. India (Manu Bhaker, Abhishek Verma) 16 (387, 577); 2. India-A (Yashaswini Singh Deswal, Saurabh Chaudhary) 10 (387, 576); 3. Iran 17 (386, 575); 4. China 15 (387, 581). Men: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Kim Jonghyun (Kor) 459.9 (1178); 2. Zhao Zhonghao (Chn) 459.1 (1173); 3. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 449.1 (1168); 17. Chain Singh 1155; 20. Parul Kumar 1154. MQS: Sanjeev Rajput 1163. Team: 1. China 3505; 2. Korea 3499; 3. India 3477. Skeet: 1. Angad Vir Singh Bajwa 56(6) 120 (14, 22); 2. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 56(5) 120 (14, 24); 3. Saud Mukhamediyev Habib (Kuw) 45 (120)14, 23; 21. Smit Singh 117. Team: 1. Qatar 360; 2. Kuwait 358; 3. Kazakhstan 357; 4. India 357. Women: Skeet: 1. Wei Meng (Chn) 20 (124); 2. Zhang Donglian (Chn) 18 (120); 3. Kim Minji (Kor) 17 (117)3; 10. Darshna Rathore 114; 11. Ganemat Sekhon 113; 12. Saniya Sheikh 112. Team: 1. China 363; 2. Thailand 350; 3. India 339. Junior women: Mixed team air pistol: 1. India (Esha Singh, Sarabjot Singh) 16 (381, 569); 2. Korea 10 (378, 574); 3. China-A 16 (376, 569); 4. China 10 (376, 565); 5. India-A (Priya Raghav, Akash) 375 (580).