Kusale, Tomar, Sheoran help India win gold in 50m Rifle 3-positions with record score

Hangzhou, Sep 29 (IANS) India's Men's Swapnil Kusale and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar set new Asian and Asian Games records in the Qualifying Section as they helped the country claim gold medals in the Men's 50m Rifle 3-Positions event at the Asian Games shooting competitions, here on Friday.

Kusale shot a score of 591 with 33 hits into the inner 10 region while Tomar also had the same score but had 27 shots in the inner 10 region as they shared the record. 

The Indian team which had Akhil Sheoran too was in great form as he compiled a score of 587 and finished 5th in the qualifying stage but could not make it to the final because the rules permit only two participants from a country in the final.

But Sheoran still won a medal as the Indian team combined to top the table and won the gold medal in the Team competition.

Thanks to the brilliant effort by Kusale, Tomar and Sheoran, India had a combined total of 1769 in the Team competition as they placed ahead of China 1763 to win the gold medal. The Republic of Korea won the bronze medal in the Men's 50m Rifle 3-positions Team event with a score of 1748 .

Kusale and Tomar were in with a chance to win another medal as they qualified for the final in the individual event, and placed first and second in the standings at the end of the qualification round.

In this difficult shooting event in which a participant's abilities are tested while shooting in kneeling, prone and standing positions, Tomar shot 99 and 100 in kneeling, 98 and 99 in prone and 98 and 97 in standing. Kusale had scores of 98 and 98 in kneeling, 100 and 99 in prone and 99 and 97 in standing. Sheoran had 95, 99 in kneeling, 95, 99 in prone and 98, 99 in standing position as they shot a combined total of 1769.