Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 25 (ANI): Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha hailed Indian pistol shooters for their sensational performances on day six of the ongoing Asian Games at Aichi-Nagoya on Friday, which yielded a silver and a gold medal for India.
After a lull at a few medal events, India's pistol shooters had a great start to their Friday with two medals. The Indian shooting trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Tomar and Niraj Kumar secured India a silver medal in the men's 50 m rifle 3 positions team event, while the mixed doubles pair of Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet clinched the gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, securing India's second gold medal of the competition
Posting on her X, the IOA president wrote, "Proud of the grit and focus our athletes have shown. Dominant shooting from our young Pistol Mixed Team of Suruchi and Kamaljeet, and our 50m 3P Team of Aishwary, Niraj and Rudrankksh. Good luck to Aishwary and Niraj for the finals #JeetHamariHai".
https://x.com/PTUshaOfficial/status/2103345714684432724
In the men's 50m rifle 3 positions team event, India registered a final score of 1762-94x, falling short of gold medalists China (1766-95x). The bronze medal went to South Korea (1751-87x). After winning the gold medal at the event in the 2022 Asian Games, India lost their title to China.
Aishwary (589-34x) stood third in the individual standings, while Niraj stood at fourth with a score of 588-34x. Both have qualified for the men's 50 m rifle 3 positions individual final. Rudrankksh, who stood at ninth spot with a score of 585-26x, could not make it to the finals.
Coming to the mixed doubles gold, Suruchi and Kamaljeet finished with a total of 484.6 points in the final to beat South Korea, who won silver with 478.0 points. Iran claimed the bronze medal with 415.8 points, while Indonesia finished with 349.4 points and were eliminated.
The Indian duo of Suruchi and Kamaljeet also smashed the Asian record, which was previously set by Uzbekistan (481.3) earlier this year in New Delhi during the Asian Shooting Championships event.
India currently has 19 medals at the 2026 Games, comprising two golds, eight silvers and nine bronze medals.
The gold is India's second at the Asian Games so far. Earlier, the Indian women's cricket team clinched gold after defeating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the gold medal match. (ANI)
IOA prez PT Usha hails pistol shooters' "grit and focus" after two Asian Games 2026 medal wins
