Anish Bhanwala wins silver in rapid fire pistol at Asian Shooting Championships 2025

Shymkent (Kazakhstan): India’s Anish Bhanwala once again showed why he is the best rapid fire pistol shooter in the country, clinching the silver medal in the ongoing Asian Shooting Championships here on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Olympian finished with a total of 35, just one shy of gold winner Su Lianbofan of China. The bronze went to Korea’s Lee Jaekyoon.

The Indian had a one-point lead after the first four series but fell behind after that.

Another Indian in the competition, Adarsh Singh, finished fifth.

Bhanwala, the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was placed sixth with a score of 290 after the precision round of 30 shots on Tuesday, but in the rapid fire round on Wednesday, the Haryana marksman shot a superb 293 to jump to fourth place, aggregating 583 points.

Heading into the six-man final, Bhanwala led 18-17 against Su Lianbofan but missed one shot in the remaining three series of five shots each, which saw him being beaten by the 20-year-old Chinese, whose best achievement so far has been a silver at this year’s World Cup in Lima, Peru.

Bhanwala also bettered the colour of his medal from the bronze he won at the Asian Championships in Changwon, Korea two years back.

On Tuesday, the trio of Bhanwala (583), Adarsh Singh (585) and Neeraj Kumar (570) had aggregated 1738 points to win the team silver in the event. South Korea, with an aggregate of 1748, had taken the gold.

In men’s 50m pistol, which is not an Olympic discipline, the team comprising Amanpreet Singh (543), Yogesh Kumar (548) and Ravinder Singh (542) took the silver, aggregating 1633.

Iran claimed the gold, totalling 1652, while South Korea (1619) clinched the bronze.

Yogesh finished fourth in the individual category, while Amanpreet Singh was 10th and Ravinder Singh 11th.

In mixed team trap, the pair of veteran Kynan Chenai and Aashima Ahlawat lost the bronze-medal contest to the Kazakhstan duo of Alisher Aisalbayev and Aizhan Dosmagabetova 38-34. China took the gold defeating Kuwait 43-39.

China are leading the tally in the senior section with 27 medals, including 15 gold, while India are second with 23 medals, including nine gold.

Juniors add medals

The men’s 50m pistol junior trio of Abhinav Choudhary (541), Umesh Choudhary (529) and Mukesh Nelavalli (523) won the gold, aggregating 1593, in a two-team contest where Kazakhstan (1580) took the second spot.

In the individual section, Abhinav finished fourth.

The junior trap mixed team event saw India’s Arya Vansh Tyagi and Bhavya Tripathi settle for a silver after losing to Kazakhstan 37-38.