NAGOYA: Three days ago, one dominant subject of conversation was the typhoon. September 21 was a dreaded word and of course, a day too. Words like deluge, destruction, floods were used endlessly. Most of the conversations with Olympic Council of Asia officials and the organizers were about how to save Nagoya. As people braced up for the D-day, the typhoon slowly veered off its target quite miraculously. Call it providence or freaky weather predictions, Nagoya is safe.
Monday started with light rain and overcast conditions but the 126kmph wind stayed away. It was pleasant but warnings remained. Flood or deluge, one place that could not have been affected were the Toyota highlands.
But a different kind of storm was raging inside the final hall where eight shooters lined up to fetch a medal. "I have never seen such a tight final ever," confessed India's Himanshu Dhillon after securing his first senior international medals -- silver ahead of his senior teammate Rudrankksh Patel who settled for bronze in the final.
The final followed a somewhat similar script like Sunday -- the women's 10m air rifle event -- with Rudrankksh leading right from the start and occupying that position for large parts. China's Sheng Lihao, however, did not give up. Like in long distance race parlance, he was with the leading pack.
Initially, Himanshu was in the lower half of the field but slowly climbed up and overtook Rudrankksh. In the meantime, Lihao overtook both the Indians. If the scores were any indication to show how fierce the contest was, in the 11th shot, four shooters had 10.9s. There was a shoot-off to decide the fifth position as well.
For India, however, the final results were different from Sunday. Rudrankksh needed to abdicate his top position but the country ended with an impressive two medals.
All this drama was after Rudrankksh, Himanshu and Parth Mane secured a team silver, the first medal of the day.
Rudrankksh is no stranger to an Asian Games medal. He had won gold last time in Hangzhou but with two different shooters –- Divyansh Singh Panwar and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar. Such is the depth in Indian shooting. A little lax and a slight slip, the shooter is out of the team.
The competition is intense, so is the pressure. There have been instances when players just couldn’t handle pressure and dropped out after winning world championships medals. The team here too is a testament to shooting depth and standards set in the country. Two of the Paris Olympic medalists -– Sarobjit Singh and Swapnil Kushale did not make it to the team. Aishwary is in the 50m 3 position team.
Right from the qualification stage, Rudrankksh -- the former world champion -- was relaxed and seemed to be control of the proceedings. The shots were on target and in the end, he scored a creditable 631.8 points in the qualification stage. His younger teammates, Himanshu and Parth, too looked comfortable. Himanshu's effort of 630 ensured him a place in the final along with Rudrankksh. Parth finished in the 11th spot with 628.3 points for a total of 1890.1.
China once again stormed to the first spot with a world record combined score of 1899.0. Changhong Zhang (630.6), Ma Sihan (633) and Lihoa were the shooters. In fact, Lihao shot 635.4 which is also an Asian record. Though Zhang had qualified for the final on score, because of two-player restriction per country, he could not stand in the final.
