The Indian pair of Rudrankksh Patil and Mehuli Ghosh gave the country its fifth gold medal at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers, winning the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event in Jakarta on January 9.
The Indian pair triumphed after prevailing over China's Shen Yufan and Zhu Mingshuai 16-10 in the final.
In the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event, however, India settled for the silver medal with the duo of Arjun Cheema and Rhythm Sangwan finishing second behind Vietnam's Thu Vinh Trinh and Quang Huy Pham in the battle for the top prize.
Rhythm and Arjun secured the top spot in the qualification round with a combined score of 582, surpassing the second-placed pair from Vietnam with 580 points. However, when it came to the crucial match, they couldn't outperform their opponents.
Earlier on the same day, the duo of Rudrankksh and Mehuli finished second in the qualification, posting a total score of 631.3, just behind Yufan and Mingshuai with 632.3.
In the gold medal match, the Indian pair dominated, clinching a 16-10 victory and securing the top spot on the podium. Iran and the Republic of Korea secured the two bronze medals.
In the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifying, Elavenil Valarivan and Arjun Babuta, representing a second Indian team, secured the sixth position with a score of 629.00. However, they couldn't advance to the medal rounds since only one team per country was eligible to compete for medals.
Moving to the mixed team pistol event, Rhythm Sangwan and Arjun Singh Cheema of India topped the qualification with 582 points. Despite their strong performance, they lost to the Vietnamese duo Thu Vinh Trinh and Quang Huy in the final, settling for a silver medal.
This marked the third medal for both Rhythm and Cheema in the ongoing Jakarta meet. Cheema had earlier won silver in the men's individual 10m air pistol event, while Rhythm secured bronze in the women's category. Additionally, both Cheema and Rhythm clinched gold medals in the men's and women's team events, respectively.
Indian shooters Varun Tomar and Esha Singh earned two Olympic quota places for the country by winning gold medals in the men's and women's 10m Air Pistol events during the Qualifiers on January 8.
With this qualification, the total number of Indian shooters heading to Paris has reached 15, matching the highest-ever tally achieved in the Tokyo Games.
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