Doha: Birthday boy Deepak Kumar secured India’s 10th Olympic quota in shooting while Manu Bhaker claimed the women’s 10m air pistol gold medal in the 14th Asian Championship here Tuesday.
However, even though Deepak Kumar secured a place in the Tokyo Olympics, he could only gift himself a bronze medal on his 32nd birthday in men’s 10m air rifle. The Jakarta Asian Games silver medallist shot 227.8 in the eight-man final to finish third on the podium.
Deepak is the second Indian shooter to earn an Olympic quota in the men’s 10m air rifle event after Divyansh Singh Panwar, who secured it in April.
Later in the day, 17-year-old Manu Bhaker shot 244.3 to win the top prize in her event. The Haryana sensation, though, had already secured an Olympic quota at the Munich World Cup in May. The other Indian competing in the event, Yashaswini Singh Deshwal finished sixth in the final. The third Indian in the fray, Annu Raj Singh shot 569 for a 20th place finish.
The Indian trio claimed the team bronze with a total of 1731, behind Korea and China respectively.
The junior Trap Mixed team pairing of Vivaan Kapoor and Manisha Keer also won a gold as India rounded off a profitable opening day at the Lusail Shooting Complex with five medals.
In the women’s 10m Air Rifle, the Indian trio of Elavenil Valarivan, Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela won the team silver with a combined effort of 1883.2, finishing behind Korea (1891.7). Iran won the bronze.
PTI
