India at Asian Games 2023: Aishwary Pratap, Esha Singh shine as shooters return with record medals

Indian shooting contingent surpassed the Doha Games medals tally.

Indian shooting contingent had their best-ever performance at the Asian Games 2023 in terms of both medals and gold medals won. They outperformed the 2006 Asian Games in Doha by winning 22 medals overall. A total of 33 Indian shooters participated in Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, and they didn't fall short at all, winning 22 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and six bronze.

India had set a target of 100 medals when the entire contingent left for Hangzhou. It was the shooters that helped India give that push to go for the target. This follows India's disappointing performance in the Olympics in Tokyo, where the shooters came back empty-handed, which prompted the need for some quick reforms before the Asian Games 2023.

In this article let's look back at the Indian shooters' performance at the Asian Games 2023.

Factsheet

List of Participants

Men’s 10m Air Rifle: Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil

Women’s 10m Air Rifle: Ramita, Mehuli Ghosh, Ashi Chouksey

Men’s 50m Air Rifle 3-Position: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran

Women’s 50m Air Rifle 3-Position: Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, Manini Kaushik

Men’s 10m Air Pistol: Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema

Women’s 10m Air Pistol: Divya TS, Esha Singh, Palak

Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol: Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh

Women’s 25m sports pistol: Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh

Air rifle Mixed team: Divyansh Singh Panwar/Ramita

Air pistol Mixed team: Sarabjot Singh/Divya TS

Men’s trap: Prithviraj Tondaiman, Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu

Women’s Trap: Rajeshwari Kumari, Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak

Men’s Skeet: Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Gurjoat Singh Khangura, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa

Women’s Skeet: Ganemat Sekhon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Darsha Rathore

Skeet mixed team: Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Ganemat Sekhon

Key Highlights

In the competition in Doha, Indian shooters competed in 39 events and won 14 medals, however here in Hangzhou, China, they competed in just 27 events and won 22 medals. The improvement is noticeably better when compared to the previous Jakarta-Palembang Games in Indonesia in 2018.

At the competition, India also set numerous shooting records for the Asian Games. With an Asian Games record score of 361, Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu, and Prithviraj Toindaman won the gold medal for India in the men's trap team competition. By virtue of creating a new world record, Sift Kaur Samra won the gold medal with a score of 469.6 in the final 50m Air Rifle 3-Position.

With a world record score of 1893.7, former world champion, Rudrankksh Patil, won the gold in the 10m Air Rifle team event alongside Olympians Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Divyansh Singh Panwar. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar also competed in the men's squad that won the 50m rifle 3P gold medal with a world record score of 1769.

Top three performers

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

With four medals - gold in the men's 10m Air Rifle and 50m Rifle 3P team events, as well as silver and bronze in the individual 50m Rifle 3P and 10m Air Rifle competitions - Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar was the most successful Indian shooter at the Asian Games 2023. The 22-year-old was fantastic throughout the games as kept stepping up his performance.

Teaming up with different teammates for two events in which he clinched gold, he showed absolute calmness. He also broke multiple records at Hangzhou both in team and individual events. Both gold in team events was a result of a world record to add to the individual Asian Games record score of 591/600 in the 50m Air Rifle 3 Positions event.

Esha Singh

Esha Singh collaborated with Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan to win the gold medal in the women's 25m pistol competition. The trio finished first on the podium with a total of 1759. The teenager added a silver in the women's individual 25m pistol competition. She ended the competition with a score of 34, four points behind China's Liu Rui, who won gold and also broke a record for the Asian Games.

The child prodigy won her third medal - silver in the continental competition which she shared with Palak and Divya TS in 10m Air Pistol team event. She further earned a silver medal in the individual 10m Pistol competition.

Sift Kaur Samra

At the Asian Games 2023, Sift Kaur Samra won the gold medal in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Position individual final. The shooter from Punjab put out an incredible effort, as her consistency was unmatched by her fellow competitors. In the process, she set a new world record with a score of 469.6 points, well surpassing the silver medallist.

The gold came after a silver-triumphing performance in the team event with her teammates Ashi Chouksey and Manini Kaushik. She was the best shooter in the team event as the 22-year-old broke the national record with 594/600.

Underperformers

Manu Bhaker

The spotlight has always been on Manu Bhaker in the last few years on the backdrop of her stunning performances right from her junior championships. Hence the expectations were huge going into the Asian Games and she started off brilliantly with a gold in the 25m Air Pistol team event. She qualified for the individual finals topping the charts in qualification.

But the worst fear repeated in the finals as her pistol malfunction in the final brought back visions of the debacle she suffered in the 10m Air pistol event at the Tokyo Olympics. During the third phase, Bhaker demanded a halt because of the "empties" (or shells) coming from the lane directly to her left. Her shooting appeared to be affected right away because she could only connect on one of her following five attempts, moving her from fifth to sixth.

It was a repeat of the 2018 Asian Games and Tokyo Olympics when she faced similar issues.

Darshana Rathore, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Ganemat Sekhon – Women’s Skeet Shotgun (Individual & Team)

Indian women's contingent were excited to compete in the Skeet competition. India won two senior individual gold in women's skeet at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage in Almaty, Kazakhstan, earlier this year as silver went to Ganemat Sekhon, and bronze went to Darshan Rathore.

At the end of the first day with a total of 201, India was fourth among teams after 75 targets. On the Individual front, Darshna Rathore was seventh with a score of 69, Parinaaz Dhaliwal was twelfth, and Ganemat Sekhon was fifteenth with a score of 65. But they couldn't convert it into a medal on the second day.

What's next for Indian athletes in this sport?

The 15th Asian Shooting Championship is scheduled to take place in Changwon, Korea, in 2023. India's top shooters will compete in a variety of events from October 22 to November 02, 2023, during the competition. This event serves as the Olympic qualifiers with several shooters trying to secure a quota for the NOC.

In the following month in November, Doha, Qatar, will host the ISSF World Championship final from November 18th to November 27th.