Asian Shooting Championships 2024: Nancy wins gold medal in 10m air rifle

India’s 19-year-old shooter Nancy won the gold medal in the women’s 10m air rifle event with a junior Asian record at the Asian Shooting Championships 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday.

Nancy shot 252.8 in the final to beat compatriot Elavenil Valarivan for the gold medal. Valarivan, who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics, came close second with 252.7 points.

The top two shooters in each of the individual Olympic shooting events at the Asian  Shooting Championships can receive quotas for the Paris 2024 Olympics. However, India have already secured its full allocation of eight quotas in rifle shooting from previous qualifying events.

Mehuli Ghosh, part of India’s silver medal-winning women’s team at the 2023 Asian Games, missed out on a medal after finishing fourth with a total of 210 points. The People’s Republic of China’s Yufan Shen claimed bronze with 231.4.

The qualification round of the women’s 10m air rifle event saw Indian shooters claim five of the top six spots. Elavenil Valarivan topped the qualification round with a score of 633.8. Nancy was fourth with 632.4 while Mehuli Ghosh was sixth with 631 points. The combined score of the three Indian shooters helped them win the 10m air rifle team gold ahead of silver medallists Singapore and Iran, who claimed bronze.

Asian Games bronze medallist Ramita Jindal and Tilottama Sen came second and third, respectively, with scores of 633.6 and 632.8. However, the two Indian shooters were competing for ranking points only (RPO).

Meanwhile, former world champion Rudrankksh Patil claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air rifle after shooting 228.7 in the final. China’s Ma Sihan (251.4) claimed the gold medal while the Republic of Korea's Daehan Choe (250.7) won the silver medal. Arjun Babuta also made the final eight but finished sixth with a score of 165.9.

Sandeep Singh shot 633.4 in the qualifying round for second place while Divyansh Singh Panwar managed 631.4 for third spot. However, both Indian shooters competed under RPO and did not make the men’s 10m air rifle final.

The day also witnessed the first day of qualification for the women’s 25m pistol, where Indian shooters are aiming to win one of the two available quota places.

Esha Singh was the best Indian at the end of the precision round, shooting 291 to be placed third. Rhythm Sangwan was fifth with 290, while Simranpreet Kaur Brar shot 287 and was 12th among contenders in the 50-strong field. The final will be held on Thursday after the completion of the second rapid-fire round.

India have so far secured two Paris 2024 Olympic quotas at the Jakarta meet through Varun Tomar and Esha Singh, who won the gold medals in men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events, respectively.