India clinches mixed team air pistol gold at World Championship

Esha Singh and Shiva Narwal win gold in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event at the World Championships, on August 18, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@indianshooting 

Shooters Esha Singh and Shiva Narwal brought cheers to the India camp, clinching the 10m air pistol mixed team gold by defeating Turkey in the final of the ISSF World Championship here on Friday.

The Indian duo defeated the Turkish pair of Ilayda Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec 16-10 in the gold-medal match to take the country’s medals tally to two.

India are currently placed second on the medals table with a gold and a bronze medal, while China is leading the tally with five gold and two bronze medals.

The Indians shot superbly in the qualification round with Esha notching up 290 and Narwal 293. Their aggregate score of 583 helped them top the qualification round and push Turkey to second spot with an aggregate of 581.

China and Iran both aggregated 580 each but the former was third after the qualification round owing to better “inner 10s”.

However, India’s rifle shooters came up with below-par performances, failing to cross the qualification stage in the 10m air rifle mixed team event.

The women’s skeet team too failed to make it to the medals bracket, finishing fourth.

The rifle mixed team pair of Mehuli Ghosh (316.0) and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (314.2) aggregated 630.2 to finish ninth in the qualification round, while the second Indian pair of Ramita (313.7) and Divyansh Singh Panwar (314.6) aggregated 628.3 to end at 17th place among 77 teams.

Only the top four teams in the event make it to the finals.

The Chinese pair of Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao, with an aggregate score of 632.7, topped the qualification followed by Iran (632.5), Israel (631.4) and France (631.4).

China went on to seal gold defeating Iran 16-2, while France won the bronze beating Israel 17-9.

Following China’s victory in the event, they have taken their gold medal tally to five.

In women’s skeet, the team comprising Parinaaz Dhaliwal (118), Ganemat Sekhon (118) and Darsha Rathore (115) aggregated 351, finishing fourth behind Slovakia, who won the bronze with a score of 359.

The USA opened their account in the tournament with a top podium finish in the event, aggregating 365, while Italy clinched the silver medal with 360 points.