Indian shooters win silver alongside guaranteed racquet sports medals
Indian marksmen Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Tomar, and Niraj Kumar earned a silver medal in men’s 50 m rifle 3 positions team competition in Aichi-Nagoya on Friday.
Scoring a combined 1762-94x, they finished just behind gold medalists China, who scored 1766-95x. South Korea took home bronze with 1751-87x. India had previously won gold in this specific category during the 2022 edition but could not defend their title against a strong Chinese squad this year.
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Individual performances remained strong despite missing team gold. Aishwary secured third place with 589-34x, and Niraj followed closely in fourth scoring 588-34x. Both shooters successfully qualified for individual finals in this category. Rudrankksh finished ninth overall with a score of 585-26x, narrowly missing out on final qualification. This latest silver brings India’s overall tally at the games to 18 medals. The total now comprises one gold, eight silver, and nine bronze finishes.
Racquet sports guarantee additional podium finishes
Beyond shooting ranges, Indian athletes guaranteed two more medals in racquet sports. Squash players Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar reached mixed doubles semifinals by defeating their Filipino rivals in straight games, 11-3 and 11-5. Chinappa, currently 40 years old, secures this podium finish 16 years after claiming her first continental medal. They will now play Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong on Saturday.
Diya Chitale and Manush Shah created a major upset by defeating Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem in table tennis quarterfinals. Ranked eighth globally, they beat their experienced opponents 3-1, with game scores of 11-6, 13-15, 11-9, and 11-5. This victory guarantees at least a bronze medal for India. It marks only India’s second mixed doubles table tennis medal in history. The previous medal came in 2018 through Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra in Jakarta. They face China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha next.