Doha: Indian shooters have secured a record 15 quota places for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. They finished with a flourish on what was their last opportunity by winning three spots on Sunday at the Asian Shooting Championships in Doha.
Mairaj Ahmad and Angad Vir Singh won gold and silver in skeet after a shoot-off for the top spot at the Lusail Shooting Complex. Another berth came through talented teenager Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in the 50m rifle three positions event.
Indian shooters bagged a total of six Olympic quotas at the Asian Meet. The first nine came from four ISSF World Cups (rifle/pistol). It bettered the effort for the 2016 Olympics; 12 shooters had qualified for Rio, but none managed a medal.
On Sunday, 19-year-old Aishwary from Khargone, Madhya Pradesh became the second shooter from the State-sponsored MP Shooting Academy in Bhopal to win an Olympic berth. Chinki Yadav from the Academy had clinched a quota in 25m sports pistol.
Aishwary, who followed brother Navdeep Singh Rathore into the sport in 2015, broke through the junior ranks only this year with some top performances at the domestic level. In the gruelling 3 positions event, he has given tough competition to established names like Sanjeev Rajput. Aishwary won gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany with a junior world record score in the finals (459.3).
In the four World Cups, he shot in the MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) section, but was fielded in the main competition at the Asian Meet. Aishwary made the most of the opportunity. He shot 1168 in the 120-shot qualification in Doha to make the cut. In the eight-man final, three had already earned quota berths, and the remaining five were fighting for the three slots available.
In the 45-shot final, the 19-year old Indian betrayed no nerves as he scored 449.1 to claim bronze. Korean Kim Jonghyun (459.9) and China’s Zhonghao Zhao (459.1) won gold and silver respectively.
This post was published on November 11, 2019 6:35 pm