Olympians Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar and Sanjeeta Das won gold in the 10m air rifle mixed team event for India at the World University Shooting Championship in New Delhi on Wednesday, giving the hosts their third top-podium performance. Aishwarya, after finishing sixth in men’s 10m air rifle and having fallen for silver in 50m rifle 3-sets, finally came up with a gold-winning effort, partnering with Sanjeeta to defeat a strong challenge from the South Korean pair of Kim Hyobeen and Lee’s Junhwan 17-15.
In the bronze medal match, Julia Piotrowska and Maciej Kowalewicz of Poland defeated Manini Kaushik and Umamahesh Maddineni of India by a score of 16-0. Sanjeeta (316.8) and Aishwarya (316.2) had previously aggregated 633.0 to win the qualification round and advance to the final, where they met Korea, who finished second with an aggregate of 631.7.
The top two teams in the event compete for gold, while the third and fourth-ranked teams play for bronze. Manini and Umamahesh finished fourth in the qualification round with an aggregate score of 628.7 and played third-placed Poland, who scored 629.8.
On Tuesday, youthful Indian skeet shooter Bhavtegh Singh Gill won the country’s second gold medal, while the pneumatic pistol mixed team of Palak Gulia and Amit Sharma won the first gold on Sunday.