Asian Shooting Championship: Sarabjot wins bronze, India bags eighth Paris Olympics quota place

Sarabjot shot 221.1 in the final to finish behind two Chinese, Zhang Yifan (gold, 243.7) and Liu Jinyao (242.1) respectively

Changwon: India tasted success on day one of the 15th Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea, when Sarabjot Singh won bronze in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol and with it an eighth Paris 2024 Olympics quota place in Shooting. It was the first quota in Pistol events.

Sarabjot shot 221.1 in the final to finish behind two Chinese, Zhang Yifan (gold, 243.7) and Liu Jinyao (242.1) respectively. The Indian had earlier qualified for the top eights with a score of 581, which helped in clinching the eighth spot.

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With China having already exhausted their two quotas in the event and only one of the two Koreans eligible, Sarabjot had his task cut out needing a high finish. He shot to the lead after the first five shots which was crucial and as the two Chinese caught up and went past, Sarabjot was able to maintain his composure and register yet another international podium finish.

In the women’s air pistol, none of the five Indians, including those playing for ranking points only, could make the top eight cut. Rhythm Sangwan finished 11th (577), Esha Singh 13th (576), Surbhi Rao 15th (575), Ruchita Vinerkar 22nd(571) and Palak ended 25th (570) respectively.Among the other men in the men’s air pistol, Varun Tomar (578) and Kunal Rana (577) finished 16th and 17th while Shiva (576) was 20th and Saurabh Chaudhary (569) was 35th.

The junior pistol events and the men’s and women’s Skeet qualifications were also underway on day one of the competitions.