CHENNAI: Tuesday was another productive day for the Indian shooting. Rifle shooters were among the leading shooters in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions (kneeling, prone, standing) qualification stage as India earned three spots in the subsequent final, where Olympic quotas were on the line.
Sift Kaur Samra, who had secured a quota before entering the event, was just vying for ranking points and she finished as the topper (qualification) with a tally of 592. Ashi Chouksey finished just a point behind her. However, the day belonged to Shriyanka Sadangi. The 28-year-old from Odisha, who had finished sixth during the qualification phase, used her years of experience (competing since 2009) to earn the all-important quota (India’s 13th quota in total) by finishing fourth in the final.
With India, South Korea and Kazakhstan in contention for the two quotas on offer in the eight-woman final, Shriyanka did well to hold her nerve and stay ahead of the other two Indians in the final — Chouksey and Ayushi Podder.
Lee Eunseo of South Korea won the gold medal.