New Delhi: Olympic double bronze-medallist Manu Bhaker came agonisingly close to winning a gold, missing out by a whisker in a tense shoot-off as she clinched a silver in 25m pistol event, while fellow Indian Esha Singh claimed a bronze at the Asian Championship Monday.
In one of the most closely-contested events of this edition of the continental championship, both gold medallist Nguyen Thuy Trang and Manu shot an identical 35 in the final, forcing a shoot-off, where the Vietnamese held sway.
In fact, the final turned out to be a battle of nerves, with former Asian air pistol champion Trang, Manu, Esha, and Olympian Rhythm Sangwan all tightly packed and in contention for the top spot.
Esha started with a perfect five in the first series while Manu and Trang hit four. All three Indian shooters were trading the medal positions after each series but a perfect five in the sixth series saw the Vietnamese take a two-point lead.
Manu and Esha capitalised on Trang’s poor seventh series, where she managed to hit only one target, closing the gap.
Esha, who had been leading with a score of 30 at the end of the eighth series, missed all her shots in the ninth and had to settle for the bronze medal.
In the final series, Manu hit three targets while Trang managed two, bringing their totals to 35 each and forcing a nail-biting shoot-off.
Earlier, Esha topped the qualification round, which comprised the ‘precision’ and ‘duelling’ stages, scoring 589, followed by Manu (584), as three Indian shooters advanced to the eight-shooter final.
The trio of Esha, Manu, and Sangwan claimed the team gold with a combined total of 1,751, followed by Chinese Taipei with 1,735 and Vietnam with 1,729.
In the 25m pistol junior finals, Naamya Kapoor survived a tense shoot-off to clinch the gold.
The youngest Indian to win a World Championship medal, she matched Indonesia’s Rihadatul Asyifa with 29 shots in regulation and then held her nerve in the shoot-off, hitting three targets while Asyifa missed all. Anjali Bhagwat claimed the bronze with 24.
The junior Indian team also secured the team gold in the event.