Indian shooting added yet another team medal to their tally at the Hangzhou Asian Games as the women's 50m rifle 3 positions team won silver on Wednesday.
The trio of Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey, and Manini Kaushik finished behind China with a combined qualification score of 1764 to bag the medal. South Korea took the team bronze.
Team medals are based on the total of each country's shooter's qualification score.
Sift and Chouksey also qualified for the individual final to be held at 9.30 AM today, making it another double-Indian final in shooting.
Indeed, Sift broke the Asian Games record in qualification with a total score of 594 (out of 600) along with China's Xia Siyu, who finished on top by virtue of higher inner 10 scores (closer to the centre of the target.)
Chouksey had a total of 590 and qualified in sixth position. Kaushik, meanwhile, finished 18th with a score of 580. It was enough to win silver, in the end.
This is India's 15th confirmed medal at the Asian Games and sixth in shooting. 50m rifle 3P involves shooting from 3 different positions - kneeling, prone (sleeping) and standing.
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It was a fascinating battle for the top judging by the scores. China's Siyu had a perfect start with a 200 out 200 in the first two positions - kneeling and prone. Sift had a 200 in prone too.
But once the standing round began, the Indian caught up with her consistency and the Chinese missed a bunch of 10s. Although Siyu had almost double the inner 10s, the final score was the same.
The final score was:
Sift
Kneeling 99 98 (197)
Prone 100 100 (200)
Standing 98 99 (197)
Siyu
Kneeling 100 100 200
Prone 100 100 200
Standing 98 96 194
Sift, who last month won an Olympic quota in the event by finishing fifth in the World Championship final, will back herself for a good show in the final. Chouksey, who also participated in women's 10m air rifle and has a team medal but couldn't reach the final, will be keen to do well too.