All eyes were on Manu Bhaker and Suruchi Singh Inder in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, August 19.
Manu, Paris Olympics double-medallist, made a podium comeback at the continental championship after missing out at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Munich, Germany. She secured the bronze medal with 219.7 points. Meanwhile, the Munich World Cup gold medallist, Suruchi Singh Inder, failed to make the top 8, finishing 12th in the qualification round with 574-20x.
In the qualification round, Manu finished 3rd with 583-18x points, behind China’s Yao Qianxun (2nd) and South Korea’s Oh Yejin (1st) who competed under the RPO (Ranking Points Only) status.
Manu’s final round was a topsy-turvy affair. She began with a 9.5, followed by back-to-back strong shots of 10.1 and 10.7. However, a few lower scores in between—like 9.2, 9.3, and 9.4—kept pushing her down the rankings. As the eliminations progressed, she steadily climbed back into contention.
She had a close contest with Iran’s Rostamiyan Haniyeh, who eventually finished 4th with 199.9, just behind Manu’s 200.5 (in that round), securing the latter a medal.
In the final medal round, Manu shot a 10.5, trailing China’s Yang Jin who hit a 10.7. However, her last shot – an 8.7, the lowest of her in the day – cemented her bronze medal finish at 219.7.
China’s Ma Qianke claimed gold with 243.2, while South Korea’s Yang Jin settled for silver at 241.6.
Asian Games gold medallist Esha Singh, also in RPO status, finished 9th in the qualification with 577-14x. Another Asian Games medallist, Palak Gulia, had an underwhelming outing, placing 17th with 573-14x.
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