New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar showed his experience in the finals, hitting a 10.7 in the final shot to edge past teammate Niraj Kumar to clinch gold in 50m Rifle 3 Positions as India completed a clean sweep with Akhil Sheoran winning bronze in the Asian Rifle/Pistol Championship here at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range on Thursday.

Niraj Kumar, for whom this is the first individual international medal, went into the 35th and final shot with a 0.2-point lead over Aishwary. He fired first to hit a 10.3, giving Aishwary a target of 10.6 to win the gold.

The World Championship silver medallist held his nerve and hit a superb 10.7 to leap over Niraj and secure the gold. He finished on a total of 362.0, while Niraj finished on 361.8. Akhil Sheoran won bronze with a final score of 343.5.

In the junior men’s finals Adriyan Karmakar secured his second gold medal of the championship with a comfortable victory, shooting a score of 353.2, which was 4.7 more than silver medallist Dmitriy Kim of Kazakhstan. India’s Manvendra Singh Shekhawat won bronze with a final score of 338.6

Earlier in qualification, Niraj Kumar qualified for the finals in first place with a score of 593-34x followed by Aishwary (588-40x) and Akhil (588-32x). 10m air rifle gold medallist Rudrankksh Patil hit 591-33x, which was the second-best score in qualification, but he was only shooting for ranking points.

Nikhil Tanwar, who was also shooting for ranking points, scored 587-29x. The trio of Aishwary, Niraj and Akhil also won the team gold, with Japan and Kazakhstan winning the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

In the junior finals, Adriyan clinched gold comfortably, showing his class in the eight men field. After taking the lead from the sixth shot in the finals, Adriyan maintained his huge lead and completed his second gold medal in the championship.

Manvendra Singh Shekhawat won bronze after shooting 338.6. The third Indian in the final, Hemant Burman, finished in fifth place, going down in a shoot-off.

–IANS

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