Asian Games: "A proud moment...," Shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar on his double-win

HANGZHOU: Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar on Monday was elated at winning two medals at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. “I never thought that I would win two medals in a single day,” the 22-year-old athlete told ANI.

Aishwary was part of the Indian team which won a gold at the Men’s 10 Metre Air Rifle Team event earlier today and he also notched a bronze medal in the individual event of the same category.

“It is not a gold medal (in a team event) but also our world record so it is very special. We are very happy that we won gold in the team event and created a new world record in the Asian Games,” said the shooter who hails from Khargone in Madhya Pradesh. Standing on the stadium to recieve the gold, said Tomar was a special moment. “It is a proud moment for an athlete when the national anthem is played and there is no alternative to that," Aishwary told ANI.

Meanwhile, Divyansh Singh who was part of the shooter trio including Aishwary and Rudrranksh Patil that bagged gold said it was a moment of “unexpected happiness.”

"At first our coaches congratulated us and did not ask us about the match. The coaches were happy. The moment we got to know that we won a gold medal in the event it was unexpected happiness….. never felt that joy before when we won other individual medals. I can’t explain in words the feeling when I heard our national anthem being played," Divyansh told ANI.

Aishwary secured a bronze medal in the men’s 10m air rifle individual and finished with a total of 228.8 points. Notable, he edged off teammate Rudrranksh Patil in the shoot-off event for the bronze medal. Patil ended with 208.7 points at the fourth spot.

India won its first gold at the Games in the Men’s 10 Metre Air Rifle Team event with an impressive score of 1893.7 in the process breaking China’s world record of 1893 points set in August 2023. So far, India has a tally of 10 medals, one gold, three silver and six bronze.

Catch the live updates of the Asian Games here: https://asiangames.dtnext.in/