Jitu, Heena clinch medals at Asian Airgun C’ship

Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu, India’s best pistol shooters, won individual bronze medals in air pistol on Sunday. Indians did well in the team competition too, winning a gold and two silver medals.

Heena Sidhu (left) and Jitu Rai won individual bronze medals in air pistol.

India’s best pistol shooters - Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai - won individual bronze medals in air pistol on the third day of the 10th Asian Airgun Championship in Wako City, Japan. The two were pushed towards their medals by mighty China and the emerging Japan.

After having won 11 medals over two days of shooting with the rifle, including three gold, the Indian pistol shooters managed to sustain the intensity of efforts with a gold and two silver medals in team competition, apart from three individual bronze medals.

Saturday report: Indians scalp six medals, including three gold

Despite not being at his best, Jitu Rai managed to pin the bronze behind He Zhengyang and Yang Wei of China, after a modest qualification score of 577. Shahzar Rizvi, who had topped qualification with 583, missed the bronze medal to Jitu by 0.3 point.

Impressive Heena

However, there was joy for the Indian camp as Jitu, Shahzar and Omkar Singh combined to clinch the team gold with a six-point margin over the Chinese. Equally, the way Heena managed to win a medal despite the struggle in the final - when she grappled with ten 9s apart from a 7.8 - was impressive. Yukari Konishi of Japan won the gold with an Asian record total of 245.3, beating the seasoned Gundegmaa Otryad of Mongolia by 3.7 points.

Heena along with P. Shri Nivetha and Harveen Srao won the team silver, five points behind China.

In the junior men’s event, Anmol Jain clinched the bronze behind the Chinese, and the team silver along with Gaurav Rana and Abhishek Arya, who also made the final. The competition will wind up on Monday with the Junior women and the youth events in air pistol.

• 10m air pistol:
• Men
• 1. He Zhengyang (Chn) 241.8 (EWR) 580; 2. Yang Wei (Chn) 241.1 (576); 3. Jitu Rai 219.6 (577); 4. Shahzar Rizvi 199.6 (583); 10. Omkar Singh 575.
• Team: 1. India 1735; 2. China 1729; 3. Vietnam 1728.
• Women
• 1. Yukari Konishi (Jpn) 245.3 (382); 2. Gundegmaa Otryad (Mgl) 241.6 (383); 3. Heena Sidhu 217.2 (380); 11. P Shri Nivetha 377; 15. Harveen Srao 375.
• Team: 1. China 1137; 2. India 1132; 3. Chinese Taipei 1126.
• Junior men
• 1. Wu Jiayu (Chn) 241.1 (576); 2. Tang Sihao (Chn) 237.9 (571); 3. Anmol Jain 217.8 (577); 5. Gaurav Rana 175.8 (569); 6. Abhishek Arya 154.9 (557).
• Team: 1. China 1716; 2. India 1703; 3. Chinese Taipei 1648.