Sarabjot Singh and Surbhi Rao
CHANGWON: Indian duo of Sarabjot Singh and Surbhi Rao won the silver medal in 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Asian Shooting Championships, here on Wednesday.
Sarabjot Singh and Surbhi Rao lost 4-16 to the China’s Jinyao Liu and Xue Li in the gold medal match and settled for silver.
This was India’s second medal in the senior category at the ongoing Asian Shooting Championships as Sarabjot clinched the individual bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol on Tuesday. In addition to the podium finish, Sarabjot's performance also earned India its first Paris Olympics quota in the pistol events
The Indian pair finished third in the qualification with Sarabjot (293-10x) and Surbhi (288-10x) shooting a combined total of 581-20x while Jinyao and Xue finished on top with 581-22x. Another Chinese pair China’s Ranxin Jiang and Bowen Zhang were placed second after scoring 581-21x.
Usually, the top two teams from the qualifying round would advance to the gold medal match. However, due to the rule allowing only one team per country to qualify for medal matches, Ranxin Jiang and Bowen Zhang were forced to bow out.
In the skeet events, the Indian shooters drew blank in both men's and women events.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who won the silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, missed out on a medal and an Olympic quota after finishing fourth in the final on Wednesday. He was eliminated after scoring 33 of 40 shots in the six-man final.
Gurjoat Khangura also made it to the men’s skeet final but was first to crash out after missing five of the first 20 shots. He was third in the qualifying round after shooting 121 from five rounds.
In the women's skeet event, Ganemat Sekhon emerged as the top-performing Indian, securing the 15th position with a score of 108. Following her, Kartiki Singh and Parinaaz Dhaliwal claimed the 17th and 18th positions, respectively. Darshna Rathore took the 19th spot with a score of 106 in a field that included 28 shooters.
The Asian Shooting Championships serve as a qualification opportunity for the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a total of 24 Olympic quota places available.
In each of the 12 Olympic shooting events, the top two finishers (one per country) secure a coveted spot for their national teams.
