Jakarta: India shooters Varun Tomar and Esha Singh have booked two Paris Olympics quota places for the country, clinching gold medals in the men’s and women’s 10m Air Pistol events of the Asian Qualifiers respectively in Jakarta on Sunday.
With the duo’s qualification for the elite tournament, Indian shooters' bound has equaled their previous tally of 15 spots that was achieved in the Tokyo Olympics 2022. However, the shooters have the best chance to surpass this number and add more to the group for the upcoming Games.
India bagged a total of six medals on Monday, including two team golds on the opening day of the continental event. The 20-year-old Tomar shot 239.6 in the final to claim the top position, while Arjun Cheema won the silver medal with a score of 237.3 and Mongolia's Davaakhuu Enkhtaivan (217.2) won the bronze medal.
Earlier, Tomar (586), Cheema (579) and Ujjawal Malik (575) shot a total of 1740 to win the 10m air pistol team gold, while Iran and Republic of Korea claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The 18-year-old Esha then striked the gold in the women's event with a score of 243.1,while arch-rival Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat (236.3) clinching silver, while the bronze was grabbed by Esha's compatriot Rhythm Sangwan (214.5).
Esha, Rhythm and Surbhi Rao also won the team gold medal with a combined score of 1736. Esha is the former world champion in the 10m air pistol mixed team and 25m pistol team events. The 18-year-old had settled on silver medals in the 10m Air Pistol Team individual final event and in women's 25m pistol of the ongoing Asian games.
A total of 16 quota places for the Paris Olympics are available at the continental showpiece here. The 10m air pistol events for men and women have four quotas on offer with a maximum of three for the Indian shooters.
The total of 385 athletes from 26 countries will be vying for 256 medals (84 gold, 84 silver and 88 bronze medals) at the Senayan Shooting Range in Jakarta, besides the Paris quotas. Ahead of this tournament, India had won 13 Olympic quota places in shooting across rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines.
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