China's Wang Zifei sets qualification record as India take silver at Asiad
India's shooting campaign at the Asian Games got off to a flying start on Sunday as Sonam Uttam Maskar, Elavenil Valarivan and Vidarsa Vinod combined to win the silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle team event, giving the country its first medal from the shooting ranges.
The Indian trio produced a strong collective performance to finish second with an aggregate score of 1898.0, behind a dominant Chinese team that shattered the qualification world record with 1904.2 points. China bettered its own previous mark of 1902.0, set at the Asian Championships in Shymkent in August last year, a record that had also stood as the Asian record.
There was little to separate India and hosts Japan in the battle for the remaining medals, but the Indians held their nerves when it mattered. Japan finished third with 1897.1, just 0.9 points adrift of India, after a tense contest for the silver.
The team medals are decided on the basis of the qualification scores of the three shooters, with the aggregate determining the final standings.
Sonam, who finished third in qualification, led India with an impressive 634.1. Olympian Elavenil, competing in her third Asian Games, added 633.5 to finish seventh, while Vidarsa, making her Asian Games debut, shot 630.4 to be placed 12th.
Although Vidarsa missed out on the individual final, her contribution proved crucial in India's silver-medal finish.
"Yes, it's a great achievement. It's another thing that I could not qualify for the final, but the team silver has given us a good start," Vidarsa said after the event.
The 27-year-old from Kerala also showed considerable composure on a major international stage, insisting that the occasion did not overwhelm her.
"I was not nervous. I was confident and just focused on my shooting," she said.
Vidarsa's performance was all the more creditable given that she had taken up the 10m air rifle event only two months ago. Her principal discipline is the 50m rifle 3-positions event, but she adapted quickly to the demands of air rifle and delivered a score that helped India stay ahead of Japan in a fiercely contested team battle.
"I am definitely confident that I will do much better in 50m 3-positions as it is my main event," she said.
The day also brought individual final berths for Sonam and Elavenil, giving India another opportunity to add to its medal tally later on Sunday.
Sonam's third-place finish in qualification and Elavenil's seventh-place showing put both Indians inside the eight-shooter final, raising hopes of another medal from the event.
China, meanwhile, underlined its strength in the discipline. Teenager Wang Zifei, a junior world champion, topped qualification with a stunning 638.8, setting a new qualification Asian record in the process. Han Jiyan also made the final after scoring 633.8 to finish fifth.
China had three shooters inside the qualification positions for the final, but with only two athletes from each country allowed to compete in the individual medal round, its third shooter missed out.
For India, the opening-day silver provides an encouraging start to the shooting campaign carrying significant expectations. The Indian shooters had produced a record haul of 22 medals -- seven gold, nine silver and six bronze -- at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, and the team will be looking to build on that performance in Aichi-Nagoya.
With Sonam and Elavenil still in contention for an individual medal, India's shooting challenge has already delivered one medal and could have more to offer before the day concludes.
