Asian Games: India women win team silver; Ramita bags bronze

The experienced trio of Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey's bagged the women's team silver, while Ramita also clinched an individual bronze in the 10m air rifle event as Indian shooters made an impressive start to their Asian Games campaign, in Hangzhou on Sunday.

A combined score of 1,886.0 earned the Indian troika the second spot behind hosts China, who smashed the Asian record with a score of 1,896.6.

Junior world champion Ramita then won the individual bronze in her event, shooting 230.1 in the eight-shooter finals.

China won both the gold and silver medals in the event with Huang Yuting breaking the Games record with a score of 252.7 on way to top podium finish. Han Jiayu came in second with 251.3 points.

The 19-year-old Ramita was in contention for a silver medal before she fell behind because of a rank poor 9.9 on the 13th shot.

Mehuli, the other Indian to make the eight-shooter final, finished fourth with a score of 208.43.

Despite ending up second best to China in the team category, all three Indian women shooters were in the 'zone' on Sunday.

Ramita scored 631.9 in qualification to finish second, while Mehuli was fourth with a score of 630.8 points.The third Indian, Ashi, was slightly off-target, managing managing 623.3, to finish 28th in the qualification round.

But the combined score of the trio was good to earn them the silver and lift the morale of the Indian contingent, which is hoping to better the haul from the previous edition of the Games in Jakarta and Palembang, where they won nine medals.

The team medals in shooting are decided on the combined scores of a country's shooters in the qualification round.

China won the team gold with all their three shooters -- Han Jiayu, Huang Yuting and Wang Zhilin -- firing on all cylinders to re-set the Games record.

Mongolia finished third with a combined scored of 1880.0.

All three Indians were up to the task in the qualification round with Ramita shooting consistent scores of 104.3, 106.7, 105.2, 104.3, 105.4 and 106.0 in the six series to garner 631.9, which placed her second behind Han Jiyan of China, who smashed the 10m air rifle Games qualification record and Asian record with a superb 634.1.

Mehuli, who also made it to the individual final with a score of 630.8 in qualification, too had things going for her with scores of 104.6, 105.7, 104.6, 105.1, 104.9 and 105.9. She finished fifth to make the final round.

However, the third Indian shooter Ashi failed to make it to the final, finishing 28th with a qualification round score of 623.3.

Mehuli, 22, following her exploits in several international events of late, was the firm favourite to stand on the podium in the individual event, but Ramita had other plans.

Ramita, who was crowned world champion in the 10m air rifle junior event at the ISSF World Championship (Rifle/Pistol) in Cairo last year overcame the slight lapse in concentration on the 13th shot to again get into the groove and shoot some good scores, eliminating Mehuli while in contention for bronze.

Missing a medal, would have come as a huge disappointment for Mehuli who, last month won a bronze at the ISSF World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan along with  a 2024 Paris Olympic quota place.

Mehuli said winning a silver in such a strong field felt "prestigious".

"Winning the first medal for India is special for me and my team-mates. The (aggregate qualification) score is a very good one. It was a very tough competition and winning a team silver is prestigious," said Mehuli.

"This is my first Asian Games and things are new for me in many ways. For example, you have to wait for buses (to go for training). That does not affect my training or performance, but I am getting to know all these things, it is an experience."

Mehuli, who originally trained with Olympian Joydeep Karmakar for more than five years in Kolkata, before moving to Gagan Narang's academy two years back, added that she was looking forward to the elite World Cup Final to be held later this year.

"I shifted my base... and my coach two years back. After that I won the World Championships bronze recently (in Baku) and got the Olympic quota. Things have been good and my average scores have increased recently. I am looking forward to the World Cup Final in November."

Mehuli, who missed out on a podium finish in the individual event, added that she will have to put in extra effort to improve her chances in the finals.

"I am feeling disappointed (after finishing fourth in the finals) but we all learn and gain experiences. I will go through my entire match (today) and write down in my diary on what are the experiences, things which I learned today. I think this will definitely help me in preparing for the Paris Olympics," she said.

"I will definitely work more on my finals performance. There are a few things which I need to work on more. It was not my best performance but I did my best today given the situation."

Bronze-medal winner Ramita termed the competition "nerve-wracking" and a good  experience as far as handling pressure is concerned.

"The level of competition is very high and we all know Asian Games is not easy for Indian shooters. It has to be world-class level. The final was so close and the difference (among shooters) were so little.

"There were shoot-offs and one shot is going to decide what happens next. It was nerve-wracking and very close and it was an experience for me," said Ramita.

• Asian Games