An athlete grit was on show again at the shooting range of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
With birthday boy Sarabjot Singh, Divya Thadigol Subbaraju won silver in the 10m air pistol mixed team for her second silver in two days, but if one were to look back, the hype of being an Asian Games medallist seemed a far cry when Divya suffered a career-altering head injury in March last year.
Divya was in Bhopal for the national selection trials when a road accident left her requiring 12 stitches. Battling nausea and blurred vision, a determined Divya made the Indian team, and her show in Hangzhou on Saturday vindicated the decision to not give up when the body was crying for rest but the mind was the driving force.
After Friday silver in the 10m air pistol team, Divya could well have finished her assignments in China with gold, but the glorious uncertainties of sport kicked in and prevented the Indian duo from picking their second gold after the Baku World Cup held earlier this year.
Divya and Sarabjot, who also picked up his second medal on the day he turned 22, after the gold in men’s 10m air pistol team, topped qualification with a score of 577 and qualified for the gold-medal match with the formidable Chinese duo of Zhang Bowen and Jiang Ranxin (576).
In the final too, the Indians led the earlier rounds but Zhang and Jiang roared back to take gold 16-14, and show why they are the best in the business.
World No 2 Jiang had won gold in the event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and bronze in women’s 10m air pistol. At the Baku World Championship last month, the 23-year-old was again the gold medallist in her pet event. Hangzhou proved to be another happy hunting ground with a second consecutive gold after the triumph in 10m air pistol team.
Zhang, also World No 2, carried the form of the Baku World Championship, where he won gold, and Saturday was his second medal after silver in men’s 10m air pistol.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on gold, the future holds a lot of hope for Sarabjot and Divya, who made her international debut just this year. World No 9 Sarabjot had won gold at the ISSF World Cup in Bhopal, and finished fourth in the individual event in Hangzhou.
With the silver, India increased their tally to 19.
The first bronze medal match went in favour of Korea who beat Japan 16-8, while in the other decider, Iran edged out Pakistan 16-14.