The Indian contingent at the Asian Shotgun Championship held in Astana, Kazakhstan began on a positive note, winning the gold medal in the men’s individual and team double trap events on Saturday. Ankur Mittal propelled India to its first gold medal by winning the men’s double trap gold medal, before wrapping the win in the team event with compatriots Sangram Dahiya and Mohammed Asab.
In the men’s inidvidual category, all three Indian players qualified for the six-player semi-final, with Dahiya qualifying first with a score of 140 out of 150, and Asab qualifying in the second place. Mittal, meanwhile, qualified fifth shooting 137 out of 150.
In the penultimate round, Mittal kept himself in the reckoning against United Arab Emirates’ Khaled Al-Kaabi, finishing narrowly second with 27 to the Emirati player’s 28. In the final, the results were just as narrow though this time it was Mittal who edged-out his opponent, finishing with 71 to his 70. Dahiya and Asab went on to finish fourth and fifth respectively.
This is Mittal’s second gold medal this year, coming after his winning heroics at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in New Delhi in March 2017.
The trio’s strong performance in the individual event also meant that the Indian team finished with a score of 415, which was enough to clinch the gold medal in the team double trap event. The UAE won the silver medal in the team event with a score of 407, while China claimed the bronze medal with a total score of 390.