Asian Shooting C'ship: Ankur Mittal wins gold with new continental record in double trap

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Former world No. 1 and 2018 Changwon World Champion Ankur Mittal created a new Asian Championship record on his way to clinching a gold medal in the Double Trap event at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Friday.

The gold took India’s tally past 100 medals to 103 for their best-ever performance in the Asian Championship with 52 gold, 26 silver, and 25 bronze medals. Ankur Mittal also combined with Bhanu Pratap Singh and Harshvardhan Kaviya to win the team bronze in the Double Trap Team event.

Ankur, with 107 hits, led throughout the four rounds of 30 each with scores of 26, 28, 26, and 27 on his way to the gold medal. Local shooter Artyom Chikulayev from Kazakhstan won silver with 98, while Kuwait’s Ahmad Alaffasi claimed bronze in a shoot-off with 96 and +2.

In the Double Trap junior category, Hatim Khan Mohammed, with 89 hits, won silver while Manavrajsinh Chudasama secured bronze with 87. They both combined with Vinay Pratap Singh Chandrawat (81) to win the team gold of the event.

In the Double Trap Women’s category, India swept the podium with Anushka Singh Bhati (93), Rajkuwar Pranil Ingle (89), and Yeshaya Hafiz Contractor (87) winning the gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively. The trio also won the team gold in the event. In the Women’s Junior category, Avani Alankar Koli won the bronze medal with 77 hits. She also won team silver along with Krishika Joshi and Smita Sawant, who registered 61 hits each.

Manini Kaushik scored 617.8 to secure the bronze medal for India in the 50m Rifle Prone Women’s event. Manini, along with Surabhi Bhardwaj (614.4) and Vidarsa K. Vinod (613.8), also won the team silver in the event. In the junior category, Prachi Gaikwad, with 616.6, finished second to win the silver medal. Prachi, along with Anushka Thokur (607.6) and Tejal Nathawat (599.2), won the team bronze in the 50m Rifle Prone Junior Women’s category.

In the 25m Centre Fire Pistol Men’s event, Rajkanwar Singh scored 289 in the precision round and 294 in the rapid round to finish with 583-22x and win the gold medal. He also combined with Gurpreet Singh (579-17x) and Ankur Goel (571-18x) to win the team gold.

Suraj Sharma (588-24x), Abhinav Choudhary (582-20x), and Mukesh Nelavalli (576-21x) swept the podium in the 25m Pistol Men Junior event, winning gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. They also combined to win the team gold in the event.

With a final tally of 103 medals, including 52 gold, 26 silver, and 25 bronze, India recorded its most successful campaign in the history of the Asian Shooting Championship to finish first, getting 39 more than their previous outing at the 15th Asian Championships in Changwon, South Korea. Host nation Kazakhstan finished second while China finished third in the medals tally of the 16th Asian Shooting Championship.

--IANS

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