Asian Games silver medalist Deepak Kumar brought up his 32nd birthday in style as he clinched India’s tenth Olympic quota in shooting for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a bronze medal in men’s air rifle in the Asian championship in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
Deepak qualified in the third place with a score of 626.8 behind the Chinese who had already won the quota, and finished the best among the ones aspiring to seal the final Olympic quota. Divyansh Singh Panwar had won the earlier Olympic quota for India in air rifle in the Beijing World Cup.
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It was a fine comeback for Deepak after he narrowly missed the quota in the last World Cup in Rio, after having qualified for the final. India thus completed its full complement of Olympic quota places in air rifle and air pistol for men and women, which would ensure India fielding two mixed teams each in air pistol and air rifle at the Tokyo Olympics.
There was a gold medal to cherish for India as Manu Bhaker shot a junior world record of 244.3 to beat Wang Qian of China by 1.5 point in the women’s air pistol event. Manu, who had qualified on top with 584, had taken a three-point lead before the last two shots in the final, and eased to the gold despite shots of 9.5.
Yashaswini Singh Deswal, who had also already won the Olympic quota like Manu earlier, finished sixth. The duo of Manisha Keer and Vivaan Kapoor won the junior mixed trap gold to enhance India's collection on the opening day.
In women’s air rifle, Elavenil Valarivan placed fifth, while World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil missed a spot in the final by 0.3 point after having shot 627.6. World No.1 Apurvi Chandela, who had won the gold in two World Cups this season finished 12th with 626.6. Mehuli Ghosh had a good outing in the MQS section and returned a score of 628.6.
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In men’s 25-metre rapid fire pistol -- in which four Olympic quotas are available -- Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anish Bhanwala shot 288 in the first stage, to be sixth. There were three Chinese ahead of him, and China has already won two Olympic quota. A Korean and a Japanese were also ahead of Anish. Bhavesh Shekhawat (287) and Adarsh Singh (285) also followed Anish at a distance, and everyone will stand a chance if they shoot well in the second stage on Wednesday.
The Indian shotgun shooters were on target and stayed in the race for Olympic quota in men’s and women’s trap events. Olympian Kynan Chenai was third among the men after three rounds, with a score of 73, two points behind leader Naser Meqlad of Kuwait. Former World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Tondaiman shot identical scores of 71. Two more rounds will be followed by the final on Wednesday.
In women’s trap, former national champion Shreyasi Singh was in top form as she scored 70, the third best score, following rounds of 24, 22 and 24. Ray Bassil of Lebanon led with 73. Kirti Gupta (66) and Rajeshwari Kumari (64) followed Shreyasi, at a distance.
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