Shymkent (Kazakhastan), Aug 19 (IANS) Two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker bagged a bronze medal in the 10m women’s air pistol event at the Asian Shooting Championship on Tuesday. 

Manu shot 219.7 in the eight-woman final to finish third behind Korea’s Yang Jiin (241.6), who took silver, while Qianke Ma (243.2) claimed the top spot.

Earlier in the 60-shot qualification round, Manu placed third with a score of 583 – 18x ahead of Korea’s Jiin (fifth with 581 – 16x) and the Chinese shooter Qianke Ma (seventh with 579 – 15x) to make the final eight.

On the opening day, India earned two gold and three silver medals after Kapil Bainsla won the junior men’s air pistol gold, and both the senior and junior men’s teams won silver medals each.

Anmol Jain, Saurabh Chaudhary and Aditya Malra combined to open India’s medal tally at the Asian Championship by winning the silver in the men’s 10m air pistol team event on Monday.

The Indian trio tallied 1735-52x to finish behind the People’s Republic of China’s Hu Kai, Changjie You and Yifan Zhang, who took the gold with 1744-51x.

On Monday, Girish Gupta’s gold in the 10m air pistol men youth event, in which he led an Indian 1-2, ensured India ended competition day one on a profitable note. The 17-year-old shot 241.3 in the final to finish ahead of compatriot Dev Pratap. The 14-year-old shot 238.6 for silver.

The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition comprise 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters will also compete in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.

–IANS

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