Indian shooters kicked off the World University Shooting Championship in spectacular fashion, bagging three medals in the 10m Air Pistol events on the opening day at the Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. Hangzhou Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia and Aakash Bhardwaj claimed silver in the women’s and men’s events, respectively, while Arshdeep Kaur added a bronze to complete the country’s impressive medal haul.
In the Women’s 10m Air Pistol, India’s Palak and Arshdeep Kaur made their mark, securing silver and bronze respectively in a fiercely contested final. Palak qualified with a score of 573, while Arshdeep (574) and Sainyam (576) also made the cut for the final, placing fourth and third, respectively. Chinese Taipei’s Liu Heng Yu, who had won silver at the last month’s ISSF World Cup Final held at the same venue, led the qualification with 578.
The final was a tense battle, with Paris Olympian Liu edging out Palak by just 0.3 point to take the gold, finishing with 239.4 to Palak’s 239.1. Arshdeep, who had qualified fourth, put in a strong performance to finish with 219.0 points, earning the bronze. Sainyam, who qualified third, finished in sixth place.
Aakash Bhardwaj came close to securing gold in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol, finishing just one point behind Czech Republic’s Pavel Schejbal. Bhardwaj posted a solid 579 in the qualification, securing second place and advancing to the final, where he went toe-to-toe with Schejbal, who topped qualification with a score of 586.
In a nail-biting final, Schejbal held on to win gold with 239.8, while Bhardwaj finished with 238.8, narrowly missing out on the top spot. Indian teammates Amit Sharma (576) and Samrat Rana (577) also qualified for the final, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Czech’s Filip Wagner claimed the bronze.
With more events to follow, India’s shooters are well-positioned to build on this momentum in what promises to be a thrilling competition.