BHOPAL: MP shooter Aishwary Pratap Tomar has yet again proven that he is one of the best in the world. He nailed the men's 50m rifle 3-positions (3P) gold in emphatic fashion at the 15th Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea on Wednesday.
It's Tomar's fourth international gold at the senior level. Another MP shooter, Manisha Keer, won gold in the trap mixed team competition. In Changwon, Tomar also won the team silver in 50m 3P along with Akhil Sheoran and Swapnil Kusale on the concluding day. Tomar, of the MP Shooting Academy, emerged as the most successful Indian athlete at the recently concluded Hongzhou Asian Games, winning two gold, a silver, and a bronze.
It was a high-quality final at the men's 3P throughout, as China's former junior world champion Du Linshu scorched the lanes in the morning to register a stunning 597 in qualification and set a new world record.
Du Linshu shot four series of 100 across the three positions, including a perfect 200 in the first kneeling position in a sensational display.
Manisha Keer and Prithviraj Tondaiman win gold in team event Aishwary, also a former junior world champion, shot 591 to qualify fifth.
In the final, Aishwary was among the leaders at the beginning. He was fourth after the first 15 kneeling shots but at the end of the 15 shots in the prone position, the Indian was just 0.3 behind Du, who had been leading the final till then. By the time Indonesian Fathur Gustafin and Korean Cheon Min Ho exited after the 40th shot, Aishwary had taken a two-point lead, with five-single shots in the final standing position remaining.
Aishwary, who had also won a gold at the same range in a world cup stage last year, shot 10.5 for his 41st but scores of 9.2 and 8.8 for his next two meant Tian had taken over the lead. The 22-year-old Hangzhou Asiad silver medallist however, finished with 10.8 and 10.7 to leave Tian 0.8 behind in silver position.
Aishwary finished with a score of 463.5. Du finished third, thereby missing out on a Paris Olympics quota to teammate Tian as Kazakhstan bagged the other available quota place.
Manisha Keer and Prithviraj Tondaiman won the gold in trap mixed team event at the Asian Shooting Championships. They scored 141 out of 150 to clinch the top slot. South Korea (136) settled for silver while China (134) and Kuwait (133) picked up bronze medals.
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