Shooter Pooja Ghatkar wins gold in Asian Championship

Promising Indian shooter Pooja Ghatkar today clinched the gold medal in women`s air rifle event besides winning a bronze in the team event on the opening day of the 7th Asian Championship in Kuwait.

New Delhi: Promising Indian shooter Pooja Ghatkar on Sunday clinched the gold medal in women`s air rifle event besides winning a bronze in the team event on the opening day of the 7th Asian Championship in Kuwait.

Ghatkar scored 413.1 in the Qualification round. With her brilliant score of 208.8, she defeated Chinese shooter D U Bej, who shot 207.2 in the finals. The third place also went to a Chinese shooter, Y I Siling, who shot 186.2. The team consisting of Ghatkar, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul won the bronze medal. India scored 307.7 310.4 310.7 306.8 1235.6. The gold medal was won by China, while Saudi Arabia bagged the silver. Ghatkar had won the silver medal in the 10m air rifle event at the Senior National Shooting Championships in New Delhi last December. In air pistol men`s event, Samaresh Jung and P N Prakash reached the finals and were ranked 6th and 7th, respectively. Jung shot 576 and 119.4 in Qualification and Final round. P N Prakash shot a good score of 581 in Qualification but in Finals, he could shoot only 98.2 and was ranked 7th. In air pistol men`s team event, the team consisting of Prakash (581), Jung (576) and Rai (575) won the silver medal. The total score of the Indian team was 1732/1800. The gold medal was won by the Chinese team with a score of 1759/1800. In air pistol women`s event, Heena Sidhu, Harveen Srao and Shweta Chaudhary will participate in tomorrow`s events.