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Indian shooters Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil clinched silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men's 10m air rifle individual event at the Asian Games 2026, as China's Sheng Lihao secured the gold medal in a closely fought final on Monday.
Rudrankksh started strongly and took the early lead after the opening series, scoring 52.8. He extended his advantage with a superb 53.2 in the second series to move 1.1 points clear at the top. Himanshu also remained firmly in medal contention and briefly moved into second place as the competition intensified. After 12 shots, Rudrankksh led with 127.4, followed by Himanshu on 126.6 and Sheng on 126.3. The contest remained extremely close through the middle stages. Sheng eventually moved into the lead after 16 shots, with 168.8, while Rudrankksh and Himanshu were tied on 168.6. Himanshu responded with a sensational 10.9 and moved to within 0.1 of Rudrankksh, but a 9.8 on his next shot saw him drop to third. He recovered with a 10.6 to stay in medal contention. Sheng maintained his advantage and extended his lead to one point after 20 shots, while Rudrankksh was second on 210.6 and Himanshu third on 210.0. The final stages produced a dramatic finish for the Indian pair. Rudrankksh was eliminated after 22 shots, finishing on 230.9, just 0.1 behind Himanshu's 231.0. His 9.7 in the preceding shot proved costly as he settled for bronze. Himanshu then faced Sheng in the final two-man battle for gold. Both shooters recorded 10.6 with their final shots, but Sheng finished on 233.0 to claim gold, while Himanshu took silver with 231.0. The result gave India a silver and bronze double in the men's 10m air rifle individual event, with both Himanshu and Rudrankksh finishing on the podium. Meanwhile, India enjoyed a mixed but eventful outing across disciplines at the Asian Games 2026 on Monday. In soft tennis, Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena began their mixed doubles Group B campaign with a 5-0 win over Cambodia's Viva Chao and Chanroseka Khun. They also secured a victory over Mongolia's Bud Nyamdorj and Enkhkhuslen Ganbaatar, while their Group B clash against South Korea's Kim Yeon-hwa and Jaekyu Park was a loss. Despite the loss, they finished second in their group and moved to the round of 16. India's medal run in shooting continued as the trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Parth Mane and Himanshu Dhillon secured a silver medal in the men's 10 m air rifle team event at the ongoing Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday. Team India managed a silver with a score of 1890.1, short of first-place China's 1899.0. The bronze medal went to South Korea, with a score of 1841.4. This marks their third medal of the Asian Games 2026, all of them silver medals coming in shooting. Rudrankksh Patil finished third and Himanshu Dhillon seventh to qualify for the men's 10m air rifle individual final. Parth Man finished 11th during the mens 10 m air rifle qualifying event, which acted as a team final too. Rudrankksh and Himanshu booked their tickets to the final. In swimming, Srihari Nataraj progressed to the men's 50m backstroke final, with Rishabh Das named as the reserve. Mani Akash and Gitesh Shah failed to make the men's 50m freestyle final, while Dhanush Suresh also missed out on the men's 100m breaststroke final. In wushu, Nyeman Wangsu finished 15th in the women's Changquan final. In table tennis, India defeated Pakistan 3-0 in the women's team Group F match. (ANI) (ANI)
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