Asia Olympic Qualifers shooting: Heena Sidhu shoots to gold, Rio berth

Top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu opened her campaign at the Asia Olympic qualifiers in style, securing an Olympic quota berth for the country en route to gold in the women’s 10 metre air pistol on Day One of the competitions here on Wednesday.

It was Heena’s third international gold in five months, having won the same event at the 8th Asian Air Gun in September at the same venue and in Kuwait at the Asian Shooting Championships.

Heena, who led from start to finish, totalled 199.4 in the eight-women finals to finish ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chia Chen (198.1) and Gim Yun Mi (177.9) of Korea at the Dr. Karni Singh shooting range.

Heena, the current world record holder, shot an impressive 10.3 in the second last shot of the finals to extend her lead to 1.5 points over her rival from Chinese Taipei.

The Indian ace managed 10 in her final attempt, enough to get her the top prize despite a 10.2 from Tien Chia Chen.

This was India’s ninth quota seat from shooting for the Rio Games.

However, the day was not so bright for shooters in the men’s 50-m rifle prone and women’s trap as none of the home participants could clear the qualification hurdle.

In the men’s rifle prone event, promising Swapnil Kusale managed 14th place aggregating 617.2 over a series of six shots. Sushil Ghale was 17th, while Surendra Singh Rathod was 24th in the pecking order.

In the women’s trap, Shreyashi Singh lost out in the shoot-off. Only one quota place was on offer in the category.

In the other events of the day, London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar was lying seventh after Stage One of the men’s rapid fire pistol event on 285, while Neeraj Kumar (279) and Harpreet Singh (278) were 13th and 16th respectively.

In the men’s trap event, India’s quota hope Manavjit Singh Sandhu had an ordinary outing with 23 and 22 out of a possible 50 to be in 26th place.

Earlier, Heena entered the final as leader of the pack with a score of 387 in the qualification.

The other Indian participants in the women’s air pistol event, young Yashaswini Deshwal and Shweta Singh finished 11th and 12th.

“I was just concentrating on the process. I knew that I was doing well. I was confident that I would win a quota today,” Heena said after the event.

There are three ISSF World Cups scheduled before the Rio Games in August, and Heena’s husband Ronak Pandit, who is also her coach, said: “Heena will skip the first one. She is not a kid anymore who needs international exposure all the time.

“After the South Asian Games, she will compete in Rio World Cup which is very important,” he said.