Varun Tomar and Esha Singh secured two more Paris Olympic quotas for India after winning the gold medals in men’s and women’s 10m air pistol events, respectively at the Asian Shooting Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia on Monday.
After topping qualification with a score of 586, Varun Tomar, cousin of former world champion and Tokyo Olympian Saurabh Chaudhary, pipped compatriot Arjun Singh Cheema in the final.
While Varun Tomar recovered from a jittery start to shoot a 239.6 in the final, Cheema, who was part of the Indian 10m pistol team which struck gold at the 2023 Asian Games, managed 237.3 to settle for the silver medal. Mongolia’s Davaakhuu Enkhtaivan took bronze.
Varun Tomar’s quota also completes India’s allotment in the men’s 10m air pistol event. Sarabjot Singh had obtained a Paris 2024 quota for India in the discipline at the 2023 Asian Shooting Championships in Changwon.
Meanwhile, India also secured the gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle team event with Varun Tomar (586), Arjun Singh Cheema (579) and Ujjawal Malik (575) tallying 1740 to finish at the top of the standings. Iran and the Republic of Korea claimed the silver and bronze, respectively.
In the women’s event, three Indians – Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan and Surbhi Rao – made it to the finals. Interestingly, it was Esha, the worst-placed Indian among the three in qualifying, who took the medal round by storm and clinched the gold medal with a score of 243.1, comfortably finishing above Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat (236.3). Rhythm Sangwan, with 214.5, secured the bronze in the event. Surbhi came in sixth.
Esha’s quota was India’s first Paris quota in the women’s 10m air pistol event. Indian shooters can secure two more quotas in the men’s and women’s 25m pistol events from the ongoing Jakarta meet.
The trio of Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan and Surbhi Rao also won the women’s 10m air pistol team gold medal for India with a total of 1736. South Korea and Indonesia completed the podium.
At the Jakarta meet, the top two eligible shooters (maximum one per country) in individual Olympic shooting events secure Paris 2024 spots for their national teams. A country can obtain a maximum of two quotas in any one event.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris .