The 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China became India most successful outing in shooting events in the Games history with the country winning 22 medals (7 gold, 9 silver and 6 bronze) to better the contingent’s previous best of 14 at the Doha Games in 2006.
Going with the record run, it was only appropriate that the shooters signed off with a flourish on Sunday, and the trap range on the last day of competition saw another flurry of medals from the Indians.
Leading the charge was Kynan Chenai as he played a pivotal role in India winning the team gold in men trap. It was a day of redemption for the Tokyo Olympian as he completed unfinished business in his second Asian Games appearance. Chenai was a disappointing 36th at the 2014 Incheon Games, and the bronze in the individual event was like a balm.
With Chenai topping qualification with a score of 122, the seasoned Zoravar Singh Sandhu made the final as the second-placed name at 120 after prevailing in a four-way shoot-off. The third member, Prithviraj Tondaiman, was also part of a shoot-off after seven shooters finished at 119, but was directly ranked 11th as he was not allowed to shoot because of the Games rule of only two shooters per country in the final.
With two Indians making the final, hopes were high of another golden finish, but that was not to be. However, the qualifications scores were good enough for gold in the team event. It was an Asian Games record score of 361, four points better than Kuwait at the 1994 Hiroshima Games.
The silver went to Kuwait (359) and bronze to China with a score of 354.
In the individual final, China Ying Qi, who qualified from the bunch of four shooters that fought it out in the shoot-off after shooting 119, stepped up admirably to claim gold with a score of 46 for the biggest medal of his career.
The silver went to Kuwait two-time Olympian Talal Alrashidi 45 (120), followed by Chenai at 32. Zorawar finished fifth with a score of 23 for his best finish at Asian Games after 1998 and 2010.
Before the spectacular performance by the men, the trio of Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak and Rajeshwari Kumari had set the ball rolling with silver in the women trap team with a score of 337.
At 357, hosts China bettered the world record set by USA in 2018 by three points. The Asian record, also created by China in 2018, and the Asian Games record fell in the process as Qingnain Li, Cuicui Wu and Xinqui Zhang formed a potent combination.
Kazakhstan settled for bronze with a score of 336.
Manisha was the lone Indian to qualify for the final after clearing a five-way shoot-off to determine places 3-6. It was a 1-2 for Wu, Zhang, respectively, as the hosts stamped their domination in qualification.
Manisha finished sixth with a score of 16 (115). The other two Indians in the event, Preeti Rajak (112) and Olympic quota winner Rajeshwari Kumari (111) could not make the final and finished 9th and 11th respectively.
Gold medallist at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, the 29-year-old Zhang added another gold to her tally with a Games record of 47 (118). The silver was Wu with a score of 43 after shooting a qualification Games record of 124 and Kazakhstan’s Mariya Dmitriyenko settled for bronze with 34 (115).