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What's the story?
India concluded the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship held in Astana, Kazakhstan with a gold and took their tally in the tournament to eight medals. After medals in both team and individual events in trap, double trap and skeet events, the pair of Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Rashmmi Rathore went for glory in the skeet mixed team event on the final day.
They narrowly won against the Chinese pair of Liu Jiangchi and Gao Jianmei with a score of 28-27 in the final whereas the Kazakh pair of Vladislav Mukhamediyev and Olga Panarina had to settle for bronze.
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India had seven medals in their kitty before the final day including two golds, one silver and four bronze medals. Ankur Mittal, Kynan Chenai and Maheshwari Chauhan brought glory to the country in individual events of men's double trap, men's trap and women's skeet respectively.
Ankur finished with a gold while Kynan and Maheshwari bagged bronze medals. In team events, India bagged a gold in men's double trap, bronze in trap mixed team, silver in women's skeet and another bronze in men's skeet.
The heart of the matter
In the initial test event of the mixed skeet team, India finished fifth out of the 10 teams. However, it was enough to make them reach the semifinals.
Their cumulative score in the round was 93 which was the same as the Chinese pair which finished with silver. However, they lost to China in the first round shoot off 4-3.
In the semifinal match, India were pitted against Kazakhstan who eventually won the bronze medal. Mairaj and Rashmmi beat the Kazakh pair with a score of 28-27, a score that was repeated in the finals.
The very narrow scorelines in both semifinal and final speak for the competitiveness and level of the teams in the championship.
What's next?
These eight medals will prove as great encouragement for the Indian contingent who have the 2017 World Shotgun Championship ahead of them. The tournament that is scheduled from 30 August to 11 September 2017 will be held in Moscow, Russia. The World Championships will feature the same three events, i.e, trap, double trap and skeet.
Author's take
The brilliant achievement of the Indian contingent in the Asian Shotgun Championship should be maintained at the World stage if they remain focused as the latter is just round the corner.
