India won a total of seven medals in shooting on Wednesday. Rifle shooter Sift Kaur Samra bagged a superb gold medal in women’s 50 3-Positions event with what will go down as one of the best performances by an Indian athlete at the 19th Asian Games on Wednesday. Young star Sift Kaur Samra stole the show with a gold medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 position event as Indian shooters set the range ablaze on Wednesday by securing as many as seven medals at the Asian Games. In the same event, Ashi Chouksey, who was in contention for a silver, settled for bronze with a score of 451.9. Samra, 23, produced some excellent shooting to claim the yellow metal with a world and Games record score of 469.6. She also became the first Indian to win gold in rifle 3 position. In March this year, Samra felt that picking up a rifle was a better career option than to use a stethoscope.
Sensational Sift
The day belonged to Samra, who became only the second Indian woman ever to win an individual gold in shooting at the Asian Games after Rahi Sarnobat in 2018. Samra was leading pretty much for the duration of the 3 Positions event, eventually winning by a whopping margin of 7.3 points. She broke the world record held by Seonaid Macintosh (467) by a considerable 2.6 points, scoring a total of 469.6. Ashi Chouksey made it a memorable 1-3 for India, clinching bronze in the event. The youngster, however, would rue her last shot of 8.9 when anything over 9.5 would have given her a silver. Earlier, the trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan clinched India’s fourth gold medal of the Games on Wednesday, pipping China to the top spot in the women’s 25m pistol team event. The trio finished with a total of 1759 and it needed them to be every bit as good as possible because China were not far behind at 1756. Bhaker, who had topped the standings at the end of day one (precision stage of qualification), continued her brilliant shooting in the rapid stage to put up a total of 590 and top the standings. Singh was fifth with 586 while Sangwan too was brilliant on day two to come seventh on 583. Bhaker and Singh made it through to the individual 25m pistol final, while Sangwan missed out because of the two-per-country stipulation. Silver in women’s 50m 3-Positions team- Before their exploits in the individual event, a silver medal was clinched by Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik, as they finished second in the women’s 50m 3-Positions rifle team standings with a total of 1764. Samra and Chouksey were brilliant in their three series, but especially in standing section, to finish in the top 8 and qualify for the individual final as well. Samra’s total of 594 was a joint new Asian record for qualifying.
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