Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the women’s 25m pistol final at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan on Monday.
Bhaker tallied 25 points, just four short of Vietnam’s Thu Vinh Trinh, who claimed bronze with 29. Compatriot Esha Singh also reached the final but ended sixth with 18 points.
India, however, celebrated a remarkable clean sweep in the junior women’s 25m pistol final. Payal Khatri staged a stunning comeback to clinch gold with 36 points, while Naamya Kapoor (30) and Tejaswani (27) secured silver and bronze. The trio also combined for team silver with an aggregate score of 1700, finishing behind Korea and ahead of hosts Kazakhstan. Qualification had been equally strong for the juniors, with Naamya and Tejaswani topping the standings and Payal advancing in sixth place before turning it around in the medal round.
Earlier in the day, China’s Yueyue Zhang and Jiaruixuan Xiao dominated the senior women’s final, battling to a shoot-off after tying at 39 points. Zhang edged Xiao 4-3 to claim gold.
India still found success at the senior level, as the team of Manu, Esha and Simranpreet Kaur Brar bagged bronze in the women’s 25m pistol team event with a combined score of 1749, finishing behind China and South Korea.
Esha had been the standout in qualification, topping the field ahead of Manu and China’s Zhang and Xiao. Manu, who won bronze medals in both the women’s 10m air pistol individual and team events earlier in the tournament, qualified in fourth place after the precision stage, with Esha second.