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What's the story?
Rahi Sarnobat becomes India’s first woman shooter to win a Gold medal in an individual event at the Asian Games by claiming the top position in the women’s 25-metre Pistol. She pipped Thailand's Naphaswan Yangpaiboon in a breathtaking shoot-out to bag India’s fourth Gold medal at the ongoing Asiad in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In case you didn't know...
Rahi Sarnobat and much-fancied country mate Manu Bhaker had qualified for the finals of the Women's 25m Pistol event. Rahi was bang on from the beginning while Manu Bhaker was eliminated early, securing the 6th position overall after making a cut to the finals with a qualification record score of 593.
The heart of the matter
Rahi set a Games record by scoring 34 en route to her Gold medal where she faced stiff competition from Thailand's Yangpaiboon. Rahi stayed on the top for the majority of the shootout but Yangbaipoon took a slender lead towards the end. However, Rahi somehow managed to pull the tie to a shoot-off.
In the first shoot-off, each of the shooters was on target for an equal number of times which pushed the match to another shoot-off. In the final set of shots, Rahi managed to score a point more (4) than her opponent (3) and thus clinched India’s second Gold medal in shooting after Saurabh Chaudhury’s heroics the other day.
Rahi was always India's brightest prospects for winning a medal at Asiad -- having won a gold medal each at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, respectively. The shooter from Kolhapur has now added another feather to her cap by her brilliant performance in Jakarta. For Manu Bhaker, this will be a learning curve for the youngster.
What's next?
Out of the 4 Gold medals, shooting has contributed two out of them. Apart from that, Sanjeev Rajput silver and Abhishek Verma’s Bronze also adds to the tally. With a few more shooting events left, hopefully, the sport will yield a few more podium finishes!
With Manu Bhaker in the limelight, Rahi has certainly proven her mettle. Do you think she is capable of bagging a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics? Shoot off your opinions in the comments section below.
