Ravi Kumar and Deepak Kumar qualified for the final of the 10m air rifle men keeping India in hunt for another shooting medal at the 18th Asian Games on Monday.
With scores of 626.7 and 626.3 respectively, they qualified on fourth and fifth place in the eight-team final, which will be held later today.
Haoran Yang, the 2014 Asiad gold medallist and former world champion from China, topped the qualification, equalling the Asian Games record with a score of 632.p. Korea’s Song Soojoo was second, almost two points behind with 629.7.
Ravi Kumar, who opened India’s medal tally in Indonesia after he won the rifle mixed team bronze with Apurvi Chandela, maintained a consistent average throughout his six series with scores of 104.7, 103.1, 105.0, 105.0, 104.8 and 104.1. The 28-year-old had won the team bronze with Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput in the 2014 Incheon edition.
Deepak Kumar, on the other hand, started slightly slower and had to play catch up managed to make it to the final after a strong score in the last three series. His series was 103.7, 104.1, 102.3, 105.8, 105.5, and 104.9.
They will have their task cut out in the final, given the tough competition. At the first ISSF World cup of the year in Mexico, the duo were involved in a shoot off for the bronze with Ravi winning that one.
The other shooting events with Indians in action are men’s and women’s traps, where all four Indians are in with a chance to reach the final.