Sarabjot Singh wins Paris Olympics quota with shooting bronze at Asian Championship

Shooter Sarabjot Singh won a bronze medal and sealed a Paris Olympics quota place for India in men’s 10m air pistol at the ongoing Asian Shooting Championship in Changwon, Korea on Tuesday. Sarabjot shot 221.1 in the final to finish behind the Chinese duo of Zhang Yifan (gold, 243.7) and Liu Jinyao (242.1) to earn the eighth Olympic quota place for India in shooting and a first in pistol event. The Indian had earlier qualified for the top eights with a score of 581, which helped him clinch the eighth spot in the qualification round. With China having already exhausted their two Olympic quotas in the event and only one of the two Koreans eligible, Sarabjot had his task cut out needing a high finish. He shot to the lead after the first five shots which was crucial and as the two Chinese caught up and went past him, Sarabjot was able to maintain his composure and register yet another international podium finish. In the women’s air pistol event, none of the five Indians, including those playing for ranking points only, could make the top eight cut. Rhythm Sangwan finished 11th (577), Esha Singh 13th (576), Surbhi Rao 15th (575), Ruchita Vinerkar 22nd(571) and Palak 25th (570) respectively. Among other Indians in the men’s air pistol, Varun Tomar (578) and Kunal Rana (577) fiished 16th and 17th while Shiva (576) was 20th and Saurabh Chaudhary (569) was 35th. The junior pistol events and the men’s and women’s skeet qualifications were also underway on day one of the competitions.