CHENNAI: The Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre has been witness to a record-setting, history-making bunch of Indian shooters over the last week. Friday was no different as the country continued its medal rush in the range across disciplines. If the sport witnessed a hard reset following the disappointment of Tokyo, Hangzhou is the first signs that the sport is on the right track.
Five medals — two gold, as many silver and a bronze — came in a manic morning session. It included repeat medals for Esha Singh, who now has four. Palak Gulia walked with an individual gold in the women’s 10m air pistol, a discipline that gave India its first 1-2 of these Games. A few hours after Palak and Esha were clicking pictures, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, already well acquainted with the podium steps at the range, won a fine silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions. In the morning, he had helped India win the first gold of the day in the team event.
In what will go down in history as one of the most remarkable performances of the Games, Palak and Esha outshot the two Chinese shooters (Ranxin Jiang and Nan Zhao). In the end, they finished outside the medals (third went to Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat). While it’s true that Ranxin and Nan didn’t have the greatest of days (they began with 47.7 and 48.6, respectively), Esha and Palak gave themselves the best opportunity to reach for the stars. Palak had a score of 9.1 in her first shot but recovered remarkably well. “I was a bit nervous after that, thinking obviously like what I hit. But I then said it’s not over, it’s the first shot, you have 23 more shots to go,” she said after winning gold.