Indian shooters Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Ahmad Khan did the country proud as they won gold and silver including the Olympic quota places at the Asian Shooting Championships held in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. In what was a huge climb to the top, both the athletes displayed sheer accuracy as they squeezed their way into men’s final after a qualifying shoot-off on 120 with six others.
It turned out to be an absolute peach of a climax for the day for the Indian athletes. The young Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar won the men’s rifle 3-position Olympic quota with the bronze medal.
Asian champion Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, who shot to fame for an impressive world record 60 out of 60 for that accolade earlier in the year, pipped Olympian Mairaj 6-5 in the tie-shoot for the yellow metal after the two had tied on 56.
With three more Olympic quota places from the day, it is worth mentioning here that this is the best one for Indian shooting this season, record tally for the country went up to 15.
Manu Bhaker won the mixed air pistol gold with Abhishek Verma outsmarting the other Indian pair of Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Saurabh Chaudhary 16-10. Time and again Manu proved that she is a top-class athlete as she has won four World Cup mixed gold medals with Saurabh Chaudhary this season.
The junior athletes namely Esha Singh and Sarabjot Singh came through with flying colours as they won mixed air pistol junior gold with a gripping 16-10 win over Korea.