Sarabjot, Divya get silver after losing thriller to China, Indian shooters bag their 19th medal at Asian Games 2023

India continued their dream run in shooting at the 19th Asian Games as Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS added another medal to take the contingent’s medal tally to 19 (six gold, eight silver, and five bronze).

Birthday boy Sarabjot and Divya got silver after losing the final to Bowen Zhang and Ranxin Jiang of China, who took the gold medal. The nail-biting contest went down to the last series, which China won to take the top prize with a score of 16-14.

In the mixed team event, two points are awarded for each series win. In case of a tie, a point is shared. The team that wins 8 series first or reaches 16 points, is the winner. The points for a series are counted after each shooter of one team completes a shot.

This was both Sarabjot and Divya’s second medal at this Games. Sarabjot had won gold in the men’s 10m air pistol team event while Divya had got silver in the women’s discipline of the same event.

Earlier, In the two bronze medal matches of the same event, South Korea and Iran prevailed over Japan and Pakistan respectively.

A nail-biting final

It was a nervy start for both the teams but India got the early lead by winning the first two series to take a 4-0 lead. China, however, made a comeback as the third series was a tie and they won the fourth to make it 5-3. In the very important fifth series, Divya and Sarabjot shot over 10s while the Chinese faltered, forcing their coach to call for a time-out with India leading 7-3.

The time-out worked wonders for China as their shooters struck 10.5 each to make it 7-5. They won the next series to level the scores at 7-7 as India’s Sarabjot disappointed.

Divya struck a 10.8 under pressure to make sure India were back in the lead by winning the 8th series. It was 9-7 in India’s favour.

India won the next two series but China shot back with two back-to-back wins of their own. With the scores tied at 11-11, it was the Indian coach who called for a timeout to pass on some restrictions.

There was a Chinese victory an Indian victory and then a tie as the 10m air pistol mixed team event headed for a thrilling finish with teams tied at 14-14.

That is when world champion and two-time Olympic medallist, Bowen Zhang came to the fore. He shot a 10.7 in the last series to clinch it for China while Divya and Sarabjot shot 10.5 and 9.9 respectively.

The disappointment on Sarabjot’s face was evident as he was not at his best in the final.

The Indian pair had finished on top of the qualification round with a total score of 577 of which Sarabjot contributed 291 and Divya got 286. The Chinese pair was second in the qualification with 576. The top teams in the qualification round fight for the gold medal while the next four fight for bronze.