Asian Airgun C'ship: Jitu Rai, Heena Sidhu bag medals on day 3

Pistol aces Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu led from the front to continue India's medal charge on day three of the 10th Asian Championship 10M Rifle/Pistol, being held in Wako City, Japan.

Jitu won an individual bronze in the men's 10m air pistol, which also helped the Indian team comprising of Shahzar Rizvi and Omkar Singh apart from Jitu, win the team gold in the event.

Meanwhile, Heena won an individual bronze in the women's 10m air pistol- her effort along with that of teammates Shri Nivetha Paramantham and Harveen Srao helping India also bag the Team Silver.

Later, India also added an individual bronze through Anmol Jain in the junior men's 10m air pistol as well as the team silver with the combined exploits of Anmol, Gaurav Rana and Abhishek Arya.

Having won 11 medals on the first two days of the competition, India's medal count with one more day of competition left, stands at four gold, six silver and seven bronze for a total of 17 medals so far.

In the men's 10m air pistol, it was youngster Shahzar Rizvi who topped qualification with a score of 583. He along with Jitu, who shot 577 to finish fifth in qualifying, made it two Indians in the eight-man final.

The experienced Omkar Singh missed out, shooting 575 to finish 10th but enough to secure the team gold for the troika with a combined score of 1735, full six points ahead of second placed China and seven ahead of third placed Vietnam.

In the 24-shot final, Jitu narrowly pipped Shahzar to claim bronze with a score of 219.6. Shahzar, was more than a point ahead of Jitu till the 18th shot, but two scores of 10.9 and 10.6 by Jitu in the 19th and 20th shot, meant Shahzar bowed out fourth with a total of 199.6, just 0.3 behind Jitu at that stage.

Zhengyang of China won the gold, equaling the world record in the event with a winning score of 241.8, while compatriot Wei Yang won Silver with 241.1.

In the women's 10m air pistol, Sidhu was the only Indian to make the final, her 380 placing her fifth among top eight qualifying finalists.

Shri Nivetha shot 377 to end in 11th position while Harveen shot 375 to finish 15th.

The trio won the team silver with a combined effort of 1132.

China won gold with 1137 and Chinese Taipei won bronze with 1126. Yukari Konishi of Japan won the individual gold in the event with an Asian record score of 245.3 while veteran Mongolian Otryad Gundegmaa won Silver with 241.6.

Heena began well in the final, but a 7.8 in the 11th shot meant she had to be satisfied with an individual bronze with a final score of 217.2.

In the junior men's 10m air pistol, three Indians, Anmol Jain who topped qualification with 577out of 600, Gaurav Rana, fourth with 569 and Abhishek Arya, eighth with 557, made it to the finals.

This ensured the team silver with a total of 1703.

China won gold with 1716 and Chinese Taipei the bronze with 1648.

In the final, it was Gaurav who was fastest of the blocks, but the two Chinese Jiayu Wu and Sihao Tang shot consistently to claim yet another Chinese 1-2 with Wu winning Gold with 241.1 and Tang, the Silver with 237.9. Anmol Jain, who began fourth, was briefly in second after the 18th shot, but lost out to Sihao Tang at the end of the 20th, to settle for bronze finishing with 217.8.

Monday will be the concluding day of the Championship.