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A drop in performance
Indian shooting contingent had a disappointing outing at the Incheon Asian Games after a terrific performance in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games just a couple of months ago.
Both these events saw a few surprising winners upsetting the firm favorites. It was an emotional moment for Abhinav Bindra who featured in his last CWG and the Asiad. He signed off with a gold at Glasgow and a bronze in Incheon in the 10m air rifle event. Bindra teamed up with Ravi Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput to give India another bronze in the 10m air rifle team event.
Jitu showed his class
Jitu Rai continued his superb form this year as he clinched gold in the 50m pistol event in both the games. Rai has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics after splendid performances at the World Cups. Rai combined with Prakash Nanjappa and Samaresh Jung to win bronze in the 10m air rifle team event. Nanjappa had settled for silver in the individual competition at Glasgow.
Gagan Narang had won bronze and silver in 50m rifle 3 positions and 50m rifle prone events respectively at the CWG, but disappointed in Incheon as he returned empty handed from the games. His compatriot Rajput won silver in the 50m rifle 3 positions at CWG. Chain Singh shot impressively to claim bronze in the same event in Incheon.
London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar had a bad outing in 25m rapid fire pistol and 25m center fire pistol individual events at CWG and the Asian Games respectively. However, he teamed up with Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang to win silver in 25 m center fire pistol team event. Harpreet Singh who clinched silver in Glasgow in 25m rapid fire pistol individual event did not impress in Incheon. Manavjit Sandhu who had clinched bronze in trap event in Glasgow did not make it to the semifinal stages in the Asiad.
Women had a tough outing in Incheon
Coming to the women's performance at these games, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul had won gold and silver respectively in the 10m air rifle event in the CWG.
Malaika Goel clinched silver in the 10m air pistol event while Heena Sidhu finished in 7th position. Lajja Goswami won bronze in the 50m rifle 3 positions while Shreyasi Singh won silver in double trap in Glasgow CWG.
Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed made it another gold-silver combo for India in the 25m air pistol event in the CWG. After a superb performance in the CWG by women shooters, disappointment was in store in Incheon. Shweta Chaudhary's bronze in 10m air pistol event and a bronze in the 25m pistol team event by Sarnobat, Sayyed and Sidhu were the only medals that India could salvage in the women's shooting events in the Asiad as others failed to impress.
The Asian Games definitely posed a tougher challenge to the Indian shooters with the likes of the Chinese and Korean putting up impressive numbers on the board.
