Shymkent [Kazakhstan], August 21 : Indian shooters Rudrankksh Patil, Arjun Babuta, and Kiran Jadhav combined to strike gold in the 10m air rifle men's team event at the Asian Shooting Championship 2025 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
The Indian troika accumulated 1892.5 points, with Patil spearheading the team with a staggering 632.3 points. He also topped the qualifying round to storm into the individual final. Babuta shot 631.6 points to settle for fourth in the preliminary stage and also made it through to the medal round. Kiran finished 10th with a tally of 628.6, narrowly missing the cut for the eight-shooter final.
The People's Republic of China finished with the team silver with a score of 1889.2, while the Republic of Korea, which managed 1885.7 points, settled for the bronze medal. Notably, Rudrankksh Patil and Arjun Babuta were also part of the Indian team that clinched bronze in the same event at the last edition in Kuwait. Sri Karthik Sabari Raj was the third member in 2024.
In the individual men's 10m air rifle final, former world champion Rudrankksh missed out on a podium spot by a whisker after finishing fourth. Arjun Babuta landed in the fifth spot. Kazakh shooter Islam Satpayev claimed the gold while China's Lu Dingke and South Korea's Hajun Park completed the individual podium.
The trio's finish was India's second senior gold medal at the ongoing continental shooting championships after Anantjeet Singh Naruka stood triumphant by securing the men's skeet title on Wednesday.
India's senior shooters have also claimed one silver and four bronze medals in Shymkent, taking the overall tally to seven. Only China have won more. Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker won bronze medals in both the women's 10m air pistol individual and team events. She is also set to compete in the 25m variant.
The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition consists of 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters are also competing in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.
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