Pooja wins air rifle gold in Kuwait

Promising Indian shooter Pooja Ghatkar on Sunday clinched the gold medal in the women’s air rifle event besides winning a bronze in the team event on the opening day of the 7th Asian Championship in Kuwait.

After scoring 413.1 in the qualification round, she scored 208.8 in the final, which helped her China’s DU Bej who shot 207.2 in the final. China’s Yi Siling took the third with a final round score of 186.2.

Ghatkar had taken silver in the same event at the Senior national Shooting Championships at New Delhi last December.

In the team air-rifle event, India bagged a bronze after scoring 307.4, 310.4, 310.7 and 306.8 for a combined total of 1235.6.

In the air pistol men’s event, Samaresh Jung and PN Prakash finished sixth and seventh in the finals.

Jung shot a 576 in the qualifying round before a 119.4 in the final. Prakash looked on course for a medal after a fine 581 in the qualifying but he squnadered his chances after a poor 98.2 in the final.

In the men’s team event, India pocketed the silver with a combined score of 1732. The gold medal was won by China with a score of 1759.