Ramita has won India’s second medal in shooting on the opening Sunday of the 2023 Asian Games with a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle event at the Fuyang Yunhi Shooting Range just outside Hangzhou City.
Earlier this morning, Ramita along with Ashi Chouksey and Mehuli Ghosh bagged the silver in the 10m Air Rifle team event, and in the individual final later in the day, she finished ahead of Mehuli to finish third.
In the qualification round this morning, Ramita finished second overall with the score of 631.9 while Mehuli was fifth with 630.0 and Ashi tallied 623.3. Only Ramita and Mehuli made the cut for the final that featured eight shooters.
Ramita started the final strong and remained in the top three for most of it while Mehuli fought hard before finally getting eliminated in the fourth position.
While Ramita was in great form in the final, the score of 9.9 midway through the final pulled her back and though the youngster from Haryana tried to recover with consistent shots in the range of 10.7 in her last five attempts, it was still not enough in the end to help her overtake the Chinese opponent.
She finished with a score of 230.1.
"It is part of the game. You can't think too much about one bad shot and rather focus on your one. I did just that after that bad shot and I am happy to win my first medal in the senior category," said Ramita after her victory.
She said she will now focus on the upcoming Asian Championship where she will get a chance to win a quota place for the Paris Olympics. Though the Baku World Cup last month was Ramita's first international event at the senior level, the young shooter, who has won gold in Junior World Championships for India, said she was very happy to have won two medals on the first day of competition.
Though Ramita is the higher ranked among the two, it is Mehuli Ghosh who has won India an Olympic quota in their event.
Indian women shooters Ramita Jindal (L), Mehuli Ghosh (C) and Ashi Chouksey stand at the podium after winning silver medal in 10m air rifle during the 19th Asian Games at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre, in Hangzhou, China, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023.
(Photo: PTI)
India has sent a 33-member shooting contingent to the 19th Asian Games that will compete for a total of 51 medals. They will be competing in individual, team and mixed team events across three disciplines - rifle, pistol and shotgun.
At the 2018 Asian Games, India finished with 9 medals in shooting, including two golds, four silvers and three bronze.
These Asian Games are also Olympic qualifiers for shooting with a total of 24 Paris Olympics quota places up for grabs - two in each of the 12 individual Olympic events across Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun.
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