Asian Rifle/ Pistol Championship – The Hindu

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar hit a 10.7 in the final shot to clinch the 50m rifle 3 positions (3P) gold in the Asian Rifle/ Pistol Championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Thursday.

The 25-year-old pipped silver-medallist Niraj Kumar while Akhil Sheoran took bronze as India completed a clean sweep in the event.

Niraj, for whom this is the first individual international medal, went into the 35th and final shot with a 0.2-point lead over Aishwary. He fired first and hit a 10.3, giving Aishwary a target of 10.6 to win the gold. The World Championship silver medallist held his nerve and hit a superb 10.7 to leap over Niraj and secure the top prize.

He finished with 362.0 while Niraj had 361.8. Sheoran’s final score was 343.5.

In qualification, Niraj advanced to the finals in first place with a score of 593-34x, followed by Aishwary (588-40x) and Sheoran (588-32x).

The trio of Aishwary, Niraj and Sheoran also won the team gold with Japan and Kazakhstan taking the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Karmakar on top

In the junior men’s finals, Adriyan Karmakar secured his second gold of the championship with 353.2. It was 4.7 more than silver medallist Dmitriy Kim of Kazakhstan. India’s Manvendra Singh Shekhawat (338.6) won bronze.

The championship will conclude on Friday.