India's sub-par run in individual shooting events continued with young gun Tilottama Sen stumbling with a medal in sight in the rifle 50m 3 Positions event at Aichi's General Shooting Gallery on Saturday. The 18-year-old, who took up the 50m 3P event barely 18 months back, fired a disappointing 9.4 to finish fourth in the final. Compatriot and fellow Asian Games debutant Vidarsa Vinod was fifth, capping the barren run.
Chinese duo of Han Jiayu and Zhang Liyuan dominated the final and took the top two spots. Han won the gold with 359 -- an Asian record -- while Zhang was next with 358.8. South Korea's Kim Jieun tallied 348.4 to take the bronze.
The 50m 3 Positions final comprises of 35 shots to be fired in 22 minutes. Ten shots each are fired in kneeling and prone positions while 15 are fired in the standing position. The Standing section comprises of two series of five shots each followed by a single-shot elimination for the next five shots.
Deep Dive
How did Tilottama Sen perform in the individual 50m 3 Positions event at the Asian Games?
What positions do shooters fire from in the 50m 3 Positions final?
Why was the Indian women's team's performance notable in the 50m 3 Positions event?
Indians had an indifferent start to the final and after the Kneeling round with Tilottama at fifth spot while Vidarsa was sixth. The round went to Kazakhstan's Arina Malinovskaya. The lead changed after the prone round with China's Liyuan Zhang moving to the top, followed by Korean Kim Jieun while Arina slid to third.
Tilottama upped her game in the Standing round to go on top after 25 shots pushing Zhang to second. With ten shots to go, the onus was on her to maintain her position. Tilottama began the penultimate series of five shots with a 10. The lead was short-lived with Han moving to pole followed by Zhang. Tilottama, in third, was followed by Korean Kim Jieun and Vidarsa with the last five shots remaining.
{{/usCountry}}Tilottama upped her game in the Standing round to go on top after 25 shots pushing Zhang to second. With ten shots to go, the onus was on her to maintain her position. Tilottama began the penultimate series of five shots with a 10. The lead was short-lived with Han moving to pole followed by Zhang. Tilottama, in third, was followed by Korean Kim Jieun and Vidarsa with the last five shots remaining.
{{/usCountry}}However, Tilottama couldn't maintain the intensity in the home stretch and finished outside the medal bracket. At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, India's Sift Kaur Samra won the gold while Ashi Chouksey won the bronze.
Earlier, the Indian trio of Tilottama, Ashi, and Vidarsa secured a team silver, aggregating 1763 to finish behind China who totalled 1773. The Chinese team of Liyuan Zhang, Han Jiayu , and Wang Zifei equalled the Asian and Asian Games record — held by China since Hangzhou 2023 — while Kazakhstan took the team bronze (1754).
With this, India matched their result from the 2022 Hangzhou Asiad where Sift Kaur Samra, Ashi Chouksey and Manini Kaushik took silver behind China.
The Chinese were in top form in qualification, with Han and Zhang topping the field. Han shot a brilliant 594 to equal the Asian record while Zhang was next with 591. As it turned out, they carried the momentum into the final and sealed a memorable day.