New Delhi: The performance of the Indian shooting contingent in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games was not as impressive as it was three years ago at the Hangzhou Games. In some disciplines like air pistol it was below par, and but for the mixed team gold, the scenario would have been rather bleak. Eventually, Neeru Dhanda’s outstanding trap gold medal win saved the day.
There was a shortfall of seven medals from the 2023 Asian Games, where India won 22 medals — seven gold, nine silver and six bronze. In this edition, India finished with a tally of 3-8-4. In the Hangzhou Games, India had two individual gold medals, in women’s air pistol (Palak Gulia) and women’s 3 Positions (Sift Kaur Samra).
“We have started our review. It’s an ongoing process. “In certain events we have done well and in certain events we expected better performances. Going forward, the focus will be on consistency in performance, as some scores were much below their average. Also, the conversion rate to gold medal needs to improve. Rifle shooters fetched India seven medals, including three individual (Himanshu Dhillon, Rudrankksh Patil, Elavenil Valarivan), Shotgun accounted for six, including two gold medals in trap, Neeru Dhanda in women’s individual and mixed team (with Kynan Chenai) events. Pistol shooters, on the other hand, brought back just two medals, the biggest being the gold by Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet Singh in air pistol mixed team with a Games record score. In 25m pistol, Esha Singh bounced back after a disappointing show in air pistol to win silver. Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker qualified for the air pistol final but ended fifth. The remaining five came in team events.
We are holding discussions with coaches and the sports science team and identifying areas where our shooters need to improve,” NRAI secretary general Pawan Singh told HT. We have been discussing all these things,” said Pawan. “The gold medals in trap and mixed team events (trap and pistol), which are Olympic disciplines, is a big positive from the Asian Games,” he said.
