Asian Shooting Championship: Neeru strikes gold, silver for Aashima and Bhowneesh; India sweep women’s junior event

National Games champion Neeru Dhanda enjoyed one of her finest days in the sport en route to winning the women’s trap gold medal while compatriots Aashima Ahlawat and Bhowneesh Mendiratta claimed bronze at the Asian Shooting Championship here on Monday.

Neeru shot 43 in the final to claim the top prize ahead of Qatar’s Bassil Ray (37) and Aashima (29).

In the men’s trap final, Bhowneesh shot 45 to grab silver with Chinese shooters Ying Qi (47) and Pengyu Chen (35) winning the gold and bronze medal respectively. Bhowneesh was placed fourth in the qualifications, while Kynan Chenai was 15th. Lakshay was way down in 41st position.

Earlier in the day, double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished fourth in the women’s 25m pistol competition before the Indian shooters swept the junior event at the continental tournament.

Bhaker’s compatriot Esha Singh ended sixth in the eight-women final with 18 points. Bhaker shot 25, four less than Vietnam’s bronze medallist Thu Vinh Trinh (29).

Neeru, Aashima and Preeti Rajak also won the team gold in women’s trap with 319 ahead of China and Kuwait.

Neeru and Aashima entered the six-women final in fifth and sixth position respectively after being involved in a shoot-off.

Neeru, who reached her first-ever ISSF World Cup final and finished a remarkable fourth at the Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy in July, is a cousin of Indian trap shooter Lakshay Sheoran and picked up the sport after watching him in action.

Juniors fire again

India’s shooters, however, thoroughly dominated the 25m pistol women junior final, with Payal Khatri claiming the gold with a total of 36, Naamya Kapoor (30) winning silver and Tejaswani (27) bagging bronze.

They also won the team silver after aggregating 1700, finishing behind Korea and ahead of host nation Kazakhstan.

Naamya and Tejaswini were one and two in the qualifications, while Payal entered the junior final in sixth place.

Earlier in the day, Chinese shooters Yueyue Zhang and Jiaruixuan Xiao won the senior women’s gold and silver medal respectively, the former prevailing 4-3 in the shoot-off after both were locked at 39 points.

The Indian trio of Bhaker, Esha and Simranpreet Kaur Brar won the team bronze with an aggregate score of 1749, finishing behind China and South Korea.

Esha topped the women’s 25m pistol qualifications, finishing ahead of Bhaker and the two Chinese medallists Xiao and Zhang.

Bhaker, who won bronze medals in both the women’s 10m air pistol individual and team events earlier in the tournament, was fourth in the women’s 25m pistol qualification round after the precision stage, and Esha was second.