Asia Games: Narang shoots two silver medals for India (Second Lead)

GUANGZHOU - Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang won silver in the individual event and also helped the team clinch the silver in the men’s 10-metre air rifle on the opening day of the shooting competition at the Asian Games here Saturday.

In the individual event, Narang shot 103.7 in the final round (597 in qualifying) for a total of 700.7 points to win the silver at the Aoti shooting range.

The individual gold went to China’s 2004 Olympic champion Zhu Qinan, who shot 104 in the final and 598 in the qualifying, and finished with a total of 702. South Korea’s Kiwon Kim got the bronze with a total of 700 (596 qualifying, 104 final).

The Indian team comprising Narang (597), Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra (593), and Sanjeev Rajput (593) missed the gold by a point after they shot a total of 1,783 in the team event at the Aoti Shooting Range.

The Chinese team comprising 2004 Olympic champion Zhu Qinan, Yu Jikang and Cao Yifei won the gold with 1,784 points while South Korea’s Kiwon Kim, Jonghyun Kim and Sungsoon Choi got the bronze with 1,780 points.

Bindra and Rajput, however, were unlucky as they failed to qualify for the final round after they lost in the shoot-off for the eighth place. They were tied at 593 points for the eighth place with three other shooters after the qualification round.

For Zhu, 2004 Olympic champion, the gold was sweet revenge of the heartbreak that he suffered two years ago at the hands of Bindra in the Beijing Olympics. Zhu had broken into tears at Beijing after Bindra won the historic individual Olympic gold for India. Zhu had to settle for the silver and vowed to return strongly in the Asian Games.

In the women’s 10-metre air rifle, India finished seventh while the men’s team finished fifth in the 50-metre pistol event.

None of the Indians could qualify for the final of the women’s 10-metre air rifle event, but Navyman Omkar Singh finished fifth and qualified for the final of the men’s 50-metre pistol event at the Aoti shooting range.

In the women’s 10 metre qualification round, Suma Shirur finished 10th with a score of 396 points. Another Indian Kavitha Yadav finished 28th, logging 390 while Tejaswini Sawant also shot 390 points, but finished 33rd on the basis of perfect 10s.

The Indian team of Suma, Kavitha and Tejaswini finished a distant seventh in the team event with a score of 1,176. Suma and Kavitha had won the pairs bronze in the same event last month in the Commonwealth Games.

Hosts China won gold, Iran claimed the silver medal, while Uzbekistan won the bronze.

Chinese trio of Yi Siling, Wu Liuxi and Yu Dan shot a total of 1,194 points for the yellow metal. Siling topped the qualification by shooting 399 points out of 400, while Liuxi finished second with 398 and Dan was fifth with 397 points.

Iran’s Elaheh Ahmadi, Emamgholinejad and Jambozorg Mahlagha took the silver with a total of 1192 points while the bronze went to Uzbekistan’s Fatkhi Yana, Elena Kuznetsova and Sakina Mamedova with 1182 points.

Siling also won the gold in the individual event while the silver went to her compatriot Liuxi. Malaysia’s Mohammed Tibi Nur Suryani got the bronze.

Earlier, South Korea bagged the first gold medal of the shooting competition when they won the men’s 50m pistol team title. China settled for the silver while Japan took the bronze at the Aoti shooting range.

The South Korean trio of Jin Jong-Oh, Lee Sang-Do and Lee Dae-Myung shocked the fancied Chinese with an overall tally of 1,679 points. China’s Pang Wei, Pu Qifeng and Wu Jing managed 1,671 points, while Japan finished with 1,667 points.

The Indian team comprising Omkar, Amanpreet Singh and Deepak Sharma finished fifth in the 50 metre pistol with a score of 1,646. Omkar qualified for the final round with a score of 557, but he finished a distant seventh.

In the individual event, Qifeng won the gold and the silver went to Jongoh. The bronze went to Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda.