Asian Shooting Championship 2023: Tilottama Sen, Arjun Babuta secure Paris Olympics quota with medals in 10m Air Rifle event
M Sudharshan
Ramita Sen won bronze in the women’s 10m Air Rifle Pistol event.
Indian shooting contingent won three medals in 10m Air Rifle category at the ongoing Asian Shooting Championship 2023. Arjun Babuta started the proceedings with a silver medal in men’s section and simultaneously secured India a quota in the event. A few minutes later, Tilottama Sen also won silver and won an Olympic quota in the women’s section.
The other Indians in the fray, Divyansh Singh Panwar, who won gold in the recently concluded Asian Games, finished a spot outside the podium by scoring 209.6. On the other hand, Ramita Jindal settled for bronze. The women’s 10m Air Rifle had a tight finish as Korea’s Kwon edged past both the Indians to win gold.
Both Tilottama and Ramita were stationed in the top two spots. With crowd support and holding grit, Kwon came back to score a 10.9, 10.5 to leave Ramita Jindal behind. The Indian shot a below-par 9.9 in her last shot which did not help her move forward. The battled now continued between teenager Tillotama and Kwon.
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Once again, Kwon shot a high 10 to lead the 15-year-old by 0.2 points. With a final shot remaining, the South Korean shot 10.4 with the Indian shooting a 10.5. This wasn’t enough for Tilomatta to win gold, losing the top spot by a meagre 0.1 point. She encountered a similar situation in the recently concluded ISSF World Championship where she lost the third spot to countrymate Mehuli Ghosh.
Although Tilottama lost gold, she managed to secure India an Olympic quota for Paris. With this India has achieved two quotas each in both men’s and women’s 10m Air Rifle event. In men’s section, Rudrankksh Patil won gold in the 2021 ISSF Championship to secure the Olympics quota. Till now, the Indian shooting contingent has won ten quotas with a few more still remaining.
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