Brilliant Jitu fires a golden shot

Armyman puts Olympic and world champion to shade with a nerveless performance in final .

 Jitu Rai, the current poster boy of Indian shooting, struck the first gold for the Indian contingent while Shweta Chaudhry pulled one act from the archives as the shooters made a sparkling start in the 17th Asian Games here on Saturday.

Jitu, who arrived in Incheon on the back of a stupendous season with five medals from as many competitions, recovered from a slow start to eventually smash past a strong field in the 50M pistol final at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range.

An hour earlier, 28-year-old Shweta bagged India’s first medal of the continental bash, claiming a bronze in the women’s 10M air pistol with her spare gun after the original was confiscated by the Incheon customs officials.

Having won a silver at the just-concluded World Championships in Granada, Spain, where he also secured an Olympic quota spot for the country, Armyman Jitu took aim in the 50M pistol with a burden of expectations on his slender shoulders.

He qualified for finals in seventh place with compatriots Om Prakash and Omkar Singh failing to make the cut after finishing 10th and 16th respectively.

In a quality final field that included reigning World and Olympic champion Jin Jong-oh, Jitu faced a stiff challenge but with form on his side, having won the gold at the Commonwealth Games and silver at the World Championships, he soared above them all in supreme style. The most brilliant part of his triumph was his calmness under pressure, pulling clear at the end when the stakes were at the highest.

After the opening set of eights shots (9.3, 9.4, 10.0, 8.6, 9.9, 9.1, 7.7, 9.8) when the eliminations start, he stood fifth before raising his game. He fired 10.4 and 10.1 in his ninth and 10th attempts to lie fourth at the half-way stage. His sixth round was a fine effort, scores of 9.9 and 9.1 powering him to pole position as others faltered.

He slipped a bit with his 13th attempt, a poor 8.3, but a 9.4 in the next shot helped him stay in hunt at second. Just then the pressure started to rise on the remaining three shooters, but Jitu, despite the taxing schedule this year, maintained his cool, nailing 9.9 and 10.7 to share the top spot with Nguyen Hoang Phuong of Vietnam.

He erred a bit in the penultimate series, scoring 9.2 and 7.4, but quickly recovered in the final series, a 9.6 handing him a 0.2 lead with one shot left. 

With everything to play for, Nguyen appeared overwhelmed by the stage, scoring a disastrous 5.8 that all but secured Jitu the gold. Jitu, though, never got complacent, firing an 8.4 for a gold on his Asian Games debut.

“I’m very happy with my performance today,” said a delighted Jitu. “I didn’t want to lose today and wanted the gold desperately. To win a gold at the Asian Games is awesome and the feeling is magical.”

In the team event, India were placed fourth, behind China, South Kora and Vietnam.Shweta, who won the team championship bronze at the Doha Asian Games, clinched bronze in steely fashion. The World No 46 brought unnecessary pressure on herself when a poor 8.4 put her in a bronze medal shoot-off with Chinese Qingyuan Zhou.

But Shweta regained her composure quickly, firing a 10.7 in the play-off, settling for it eventually after totaling 176.5. China’s Mengyuan Zhang won gold with a score of 202.2 while hosts’ Jee Hae Jung won silver with 201.3.

Other Indian hopefuls in the women’s event, Heena Sidhu and Malaika Goel, failed to make the final, with scores of 378 and 373. India were fifth in the team event.



Results: Men: 50M pistol: Individual: Jitu Rai (Ind) 186.2, 1; Nguyen Hoang Phuong (Vie) 183.2, 2; Wang Zhiwei (Chn) 165.6, 3. Team championship: China (1692) (GR) 1; South Korea (1670) 2; Vietnam (1670) 3. India 1665 (Jitu Rai 559, Om Prakash 555, Omkar Singh 551) 4. Women: 10M air pistol: Mengyuan Zhang (Chn) 202.2, 1; Jeehae Jung (Kor) 201.3, 2; Shweta Chaudhry (Ind) 176.4, 3. Team championship: China (1146) 1; Chinese Taipei (1141) 2; Mongolia (1140) 3. India 1134 (Shweta Chaudhary 383, Heena Sidhu 378, Malaika Goel 373), 5.