A dominant Indian team ended their campaign successfully at the 15th Asian Airgun Championship held in Daegu, Korea with a rich moment of 25 gold medals including 2 from the final day on 18th November, 2022. Team India won 25 events out of 28 scheduled in the tournament held over eight days in South Korea until this Friday.
The duo of Manu Bhaker and Samrat Rana won the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Junior event I the tournament while the duo of Rhythm Sangwan and Vijayveer Sidhu took the gold in the corresponding event of seniors
In this show of complete dominance of our nation, India won 25 out of the 28 events with a gold in the competition scheduled over eight days in South Korea.
Rhythm Sangwan and Vijayveer Sidhu completely outshone Valeriy Rakhimzhan of Kazakhstan and Irina Yunusmetova by 17-3 in the Air Pistol Mixed Team finals match. They had topped the qualification round with a score of 579 with the Kazakhs finishing second round with 577, thereby setting up the clash for the gold medal.
A second Indian duo of Shiva Narwal and Yuvika Tomar also made it to one of the bronze medal matches but they finished fourth in qualifying with a score of 573. They eventually went down 6-16 to the Korean pair to miss out on a medal in the tournament.
In the junior Air Pistol Mixed Team event, the Indian duo of Manu Bhaker and Rana shot 578 in the qualification to finish second behind Nigina Saidkulova and Mukhammad Kamalov of Uzbekistan who shot 579.
However, the Indian duo turned the tables on the Uzbekistan one’s in the final with a 17-3 victory. India’s second pair in the same event, Sagar Dangi and Esha Singh also made it to one of the two bronze medal matches of the tournament, finishing third in the qualification with 576. However, they too lost out on a medal, going down 14-16 in the contest against Korea’s Lee Seungjun and Yang Jiin.
Hooghly-based Mehuli Ghosh added another feather to her cap as she won three golds at the ongoing Asian AirGun Championship 2022, in South Korea. After winning gold for India in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team final at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in July this year, these wins have further boosted her confidence for the upcoming Paris Olympics in the year 2024.
Though Ganguly believes that there is always room for improvement, he said Mehuli is ready for the dynamic Olympics. Ganguly further said that in 2021, she chalked out a regimen for her and everything is working according to the plan but mentally and physically, she is doing great and gaining experience.
While her goal is the Paris Olympics, she is set for the international tournaments present till the end of 2023 including the Air Rifle World Cup and the Asian Games as the two big-ticket tournaments among others.
