Asian Games 2018: Apurvi Chandela- Ravi Kumar claim bronze in 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team

Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar opened India’s medal account at the Asian Games 2018 as the duo claimed bronze in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event in Jakarta on Sunday.

The duo aggregated 429.9 after 42 shots in the 48-shot final and were in second spot for major part of the 48-shot finals before China overtook them to take the silver.

Chinese Taipei won the gold with an Asian Games record score of 494.1 while China finished second with 492.5.

Kumar had earlier won team gold at the 2014 Asian Games and individual bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games while Chandela won gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In the newly-added event, the Indian pair finished second in the qualification round behind Korea with a total score of 835.3. The Korean pair of Eunhea Jung and Hyeonjun Kim was first with 836.7.

“Our best finish together was fourth at the World Cup and we have improved on that. My first Asian Games medal and my first medal for India here. I am really happy about that but my focus is on main event (10m rifle) tomorrow,” Chandela told PTI.

Asked about slipping to third from second in the elimination stage, Chandela added: “This happens in shooting. I think we shot alright.”

Kumar said, “This bronze has come only because of apurvi. The final was a disappointment after a decent qualification. We didnt get enough time to train together.”

Earlier in the year, Chandela and Ravi Kumar competed in the first ISSF World Cup in Mexico as a team and they ended up topping the qualification rounds, shooting a total of 837.9.

Meanwhile, it was bad news for India in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event as Manu Bhaker and Abhishek Verma narrowly missed out on a spot in the medal clash. The duo finished sixth with 759 points and although they were tied with Kazakhstan, Bhaker and Verma were beaten on the inner 10s.

(with inputs from PTI)

First Published: Aug 19, 2018 11:56 IST