Mehuli wins air rifle gold in Asian championship

Mehuli Ghosh beat Cho Eunyoung of Korea 16-12 to clinch the women’s air rifle gold in the Asian airgun championship in Daegu, Korea, on Saturday.

Mehuli had qualified in the second place behind Keum Jihyeon of Korea, who shot an Asian record 634.4. In the second stage, Mehuli inched closer to Cho Eunyoung but qualified for the gold medal match in the second place, 1.4 points behind the Korean. In the gold match, Mehuli struck high scores in the climax to assert her class.

Former World No. 1 Elavenil Valarivan and Meghana Sajjanar also qualified for the medal round, but finished sixth and seventh respectively.

The junior women’s gold was bagged by Tilottama Sen who beat compatriot and qualification topper Nancy 17-11.

In the youth women’s event, it was a sweep of medals for India, as Gautami Bhanot, Yukthi Rajendra and Hazel won gold, silver and bronze respectively. The trio also won the youth team gold, beating Korea 16-6.

In youth men’s event, Parth Mane outclassed Ha Semin 16-0 for the gold. Qualification topper Sheersh Kashyap (624.7) and Abhinav Shaw placed fourth and fifth respectively. The Indian youth team also bagged the gold, beating Korea 16-8.

The results:

Air rifle: Women: 1. Mehuli Ghosh 16 (261.1 (632.5), 2. Cho Eunyoung (Kor) 12 (262.5) 628.6, 3. Alexandra Le (Kaz) 259.4 (628.4); 6. Elavenil Valarivan 207.3 (627.5); 7. Meghana Sajjanar 154.9 (627.5).

Junior women: 1. Tilottama Sen 17 (260.4) 629.9, 2. Nancy 11 (261.4) 632.3, 3. Misaki Nobata (Jpn) 259.4 (630.0).

Youth women: 1. Yukthi Rajendra 16 (260.5) 628.3, 2. Gautami Bhanot 14 (261.1) 631.0, 3. Hazel 259.6 (625.6). Team: 1. India (Yukthi, Hazel,Gautami) 16 (626.3) 936.4, 2. Korea (Go Yedam, Park Yeeun, Bae Seoyoung) 6 (624.6) 941.7, 3. Bangladesh 17 (612.8) 919.3.

Youth men: 1. Parth Mane 16 (259.5) 623.0, 2. Ha Semin 0 (258.9) 617.9, 3. Javohir Sokhobov (Uzb) 258.6 (623.6); 4. Sheersh Kashyap 258.4 (624.7), 5. Abhinav Shaw 206.4 (620.3).

Team: 1. India (Abhinav, Sheersh, Parth) 16 (624.8) 936.7, 2. Korea (Kim Taegyeong, Lee Junhwan, Ha Semin) 8 (623.5) 933.3.