Asian Shooting C'ships: Girish Gupta's gold helps India end opening day at Shymkent with two gold, three silver (Ld)

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) Girish Gupta’s gold in the 10m air pistol men youth event, in which he led an Indian 1-2, ensured the country ended competition Day One of the 16th Asian Shooting Championship Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on a profitable note.

The 17-year-old shot 241.3 in the final to finish ahead of compatriot Dev Pratap. The 14-year-old shot 238.6 for silver.

India thus earned two gold and three silver medals on Day One after Kapil Bainsla had won the junior men’s air pistol gold and both the senior and junior men’s teams had won silver medals each.

Day two on Tuesday has the women’s air pistol finals across categories, on schedule.

Earlier in the day, Kapil Bainsla from Palwal, Haryana, won India their first gold of the event, firing 243.0 in the 10m air pistol men junior final, leaving Uzbekistan’s Ilkhombek Obidjonov 0.6 behind in second. Kapil’s compatriot Jonathan Gavin Antony won bronze, shooting 220.7, bowing out after the 22nd shot of the 24-shot final.

Kapil had shot 579 to finish fourth in qualification and made the top eight alongside Jonathan, who was second with 582. Mukesh Nelavali was just two inner 10s less than Jonathan, to finish third and make it three Indians in the final. Korean Kim Dooyeon topped the board, also shooting 582, but with at least six shots in the inner 10-ring more than Jonathan.

It was Ilkhombek, who then was the fastest off the blocks in the final, with Kapil chasing him all through, before going past him after the 15th shot for the first time. The Uzbek regained the advantage after the 20th shot, and going into the final two, was a full point ahead of Kapil.

The young Indian then finished with a 10.8 and 10.6, while Ilkhombek, after shooting a 10.4 for his 23rd, buckled to finish with a 9.4, handing Kapil the title. Kapil and Jonathan also combined with Vijay Tomar to win the team silver in the event with a total of 1723. Korea won gold with 1734, and host Kazakhstan won bronze.

In the senior men’s final, Anmol Jain, the only Indian in the fray, finished sixth with 155.1. China’s Hu Kai won gold, while China also won the team gold in the event. Anmol, along with Aditya Malra and Saurabh Chaudhary, won the team silver with a combined effort of 1735.

--IANS

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