Dhillon, Patil secure double podium as Indian shooters clinch three-medal haul at Asian Games

Ranvir Singh

Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) : India added three more medals to their shooting tally at the 20th Asian Games, highlighted by a double podium finish in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle on day two of competition at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery.

Himanshu Dhillon clinched individual silver, while Rudrankksh Patil secured bronze in a tightly fought eight-man final, with China’s Sheng Lihao taking gold.

The medal rush began in the morning qualification round, which doubled as the team final decided by aggregate scores. Patil led the Indian charge with a composed 631.8 to finish third overall, Dhillon backed him up with 630.0 for seventh, and Parth Mane added 628.3. Together, the trio’s combined 1890.1 secured team silver, behind a world-record 1899.0 from China, and just ahead of South Korea’s 1884.2 for bronze.

With their qualification scores good enough to also rank inside the individual top eight, Patil and Dhillon returned to the line for the final.

Both marksmen held their nerve through the progressive-elimination format. Rudrankksh set the early pace, opening with 52.8 and a superb 53.2 in the second series to move 1.1 points clear, and led with 127.4 after 12 shots ahead of Himanshu (126.6) and Sheng (126.3). China’s Sheng edged ahead after 16 shots (168.8) with the two Indians tied on 168.6, before Himanshu’s late consistency — including a clutch 10.9 — kept him in the fight while Rudrankksh’s costly 9.7 saw him drop out after 22 shots, finishing on 230.9 for bronze.

Himanshu then took the contest to the final two-man shoot-off against Sheng; both closed with 10.6s, but Sheng completed his round on 233.0 for gold while Himanshu settled for silver with 231.0.

The result takes India’s shooting tally at these Games to three medals, following an earlier silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, with all three coming from the same discipline so far.