Jakarta: Skeet shooting has always been India’s Achilles Heel among the set of shotgun events and Sunday was no different at the shooting range in Palembang when Indian youngsters failed to make themselves count at the Asian Games.
On the last day of action at the range after shooting provided bulk of the medals to India’s tally—9 in total including 2 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals—Sheeraz Sheikh and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa did their best but making it to the 6-man final was beyond reach.
Both the Indians had finished first day with identical score of 72 out of 75 and this morning Sheeraz started brilliantly with 25 out of 25. Angad on the in the other hand managed 22 and the loss of those three points at that crucial stage proved costly for the Indian.
Sheeraz lost his concentration in his last round as he missed two targets to end with 23 and that ended his challenge. He finished with 120 after a series of 24, 23, 25, 25, 23 to be at the 13th place.
Angad collected full 25 points but his previous round of 22 did him in as he totalled 119 (24,25,23,22, 25 ) and had to settle for the 14th place.
Kuwait’s Mansour Alrashidi won the gold with a Games Record of 52 after a shoot-off with Di Jin of China. The two were locked at 52 and the Kuwaiti shot all four clay targets to set the tone, while the Chinese managed to hit three and settled for the silver medal.
In the women section, Ganemat Sekhon and Rashmi Rathore also did not fare better. The two had identical scores of 68 at the end of the first day.
This morning Ganemat shot poor identical rounds of 22 to total 112 out of 125 and was placed 10th. Rashmi fired 23 and a dismal 20 for a total of 111, which placed her 12th overall in the field of 19 shooters.
Thailand’s Jiewchaloemmit Sutiya took the gold with a games record of 55, while China’s Meng Wei with 54 took the silver and Minji Kim of Korea was third with 42.
