Asian Games 2023: Sift Kaur Samra smashes world record for maiden individual gold, Ashi Chouksey bags bronze in women's 50m Rifle 3 Position

Ashi Chouksey has won three medals in Asian Games 2023.

It's golden Wednesday in shooting for India, as Sift Kaur Samra won gold while Ashi Chouksey bagged bronze in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Position individual final at Asian Games 2023. It was a stupendous effort from the Punjab-born shooter Sift Kaur, as her consistency was no match to her fellow opponents. She in the process broke the world record with total points of 469.6 points, which is well ahead of the silver medalist.

Fellow Indian shooter Ashi Chouksey, who was in line for the silver medal position had to settle for bronze when she surrendered her 1.1-point lead to the Chinese. However the day belonged to Sift, who broke the national record in the qualification and had a shaky start in the kneeling position as she was reeling at sixth place after five shots.

The 21-year-old stepped up in the next 10 shots to take the pole position with 154.6 points. She was leading by just 0.1 point. In the prone position, she took a huge leap towards the gold with scores of 52.6, 52.9, and 63.0. Sift was in her zone and it was evident in her shooting range even in the standing position, which was tougher of the three positions. She drifted away from her opponents to secure third gold for India in shooting in the Asian Games 2023.

Ashi, who had already won two silver medals in this edition of the Asian Games was gunning for her third with a stunning comeback in the prone position. The 21-year-old outscored every opponent of her in the prone position with a whopping 159.1 points. This helped her jump from sixth to second position well behind China's Qiongyue Zhang.

The youngster continued the momentum in the standing position as India was looking for a 1-2 finish in the event. After five shots, it was down to elimination and what followed next was a pure act of pressure. Ashi and Zhang started falling off the target as their scores were below 10.

With India's 443 points to China's 441.9 points, it was a shootout for silver. Unfortunately, Ashi succumbed to pressure to score just 8.9, here worst in the competition, when it mattered the most. A calm Zhang shot a 10.5 and was overwhelmed to get the silver out of nowhere. Taking nothing away from the Bhopal-born Chouksey for her brilliant show in the Hangzhou Games winning two silver and a bronze.