Rifle shooter Sift Kaur makes it a golden double for India in Asian Championships

Shymkent (Kazakhstan): Olympian Sift Kaur Samra pulled off an incredible show, clinching the individual women's 50m rifle 3 positions gold and helping the country to the team title as well in the Asian Shooting Championships here on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old world record holder fired a superb 459.2 in the final to beat China's Yang Yujie (458.8) for gold, and the trio of Samra, stalwart Anjum Moudgil and Ashi Chouksey also bagged the top podium in the team event with an aggregate of 1753 points.

India are placed second on the charts with 20 medals, nine of them gold. China are leading the table with 24 medals, including 13 gold.

This was Samra's fourth Asian Championships gold, and she was in a different zone altogether in the event as she qualified for the eight-shooter final placed No.1 with a score of 589.

Another Indian, Shriyanka Sadandi, who had topped the qualification round was not eligible for the final as she was competing for 'Ranking Points Only' (RPO).

RPO shooters cannot compete for medals.

Samra, who had the highest world ranking of No.5 among the eight finalists, had scores of 151.0, 156.2 in the kneeling and prone positions. In the standing-elimination round, she was simply unbeatable and led till the end despite a late fightback by her Chinese rival, who finished just 0.4 points behind the Indian.

Japan's Nobata Misaki (448.2) took the bronze.

Chouksey, who had entered the final placed fourth, ended up seventh with 402.8 points.

Senior pro and two-time Olympian Anjum finished 22nd in a high-class field of 41 shooters.

Samra led from the front in the team event as well as she guided India to the gold medal along with Anjum and Ashi.

While Samra fired a superb 589, Ashi shot 586, and Anjum managed 578 as the trio clinched the top spot ahead of Japan, who totalled 1750 and South Korea (1745).

Juniors excel

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Indian teenager shooter Anushka Thokur bagged her maiden international medal in style, clinching gold in the junior women's 50m rifle 3 positions event. She, along with Prachi Gaikwad and Mahit Sandhu, made it a grand double by winning the team gold.

A national championships and Khelo India Youth Games medallist, the 18-year-old Anushka fired a brilliant 460.7 in the final to win by a huge margin of five points. South Korea's Oh Sehee 455.7 claimed silver, while compatriot Sim Yeojin (443.9) took the bronze.

Two other Indians who made it to the eight-shooter final, Sandhu and Gaikwad, finished fifth and sixth respectively.

In the team category, Anushka (583), Gaikwad (588) and Sandhu (587) aggregated 1758 to win gold, while South Korea (1740) and Kazakhstan (1706) took the silver and bronze respectively in a competition where four teams participated.

Sameer from India bagged the junior men's 25m rapid-fire bronze, notching a score of 21 in the six-shooter final. The other two Indians, Suraj Sharma and Abhinav Choudhary, finished fifth and sixth respectively.

The trio of Sameer (576), Suraj (577) and Abhinav 571) aggregated 1724 to finish on top of the podium in the team section on Monday.

India's Haris Sabeera and Addya Katyal took the junior women's trap gold and silver, shooting 39 and 38 in the final. The trio of Sabeera (105), Addya (110) and Bhavya Tripathi (109) also took the trap team gold, aggregating 324 in an event where their only competitor was Kazakhstan (323).

India also won the junior men's trap team gold after the trio of Arya Vansh Tyagi (112), Arjun (110) and Udhav Rathore (106) totalled 328. Arya Vansh also bagged the individual junior trap silver after a tense shoot-off with Kazakhstan's Nikita Moisseyev.

Both Arya Vansh and Nikita were tied at the top spot, shooting 40 birds each. But Nikita won the gold on the first tie-shoot after Arya Vansh missed the target.