Haryana’s Palak Gulia bags Olympics quota place

PTI

New Delhi, April 14

Reigning Asian Games champion Palak Gulia bagged the 20th Paris Olympics quota place in shooting for the country, clinching the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship (Rifle and Pistol) in Rio de Janeiro today.

The 18-year-old from Jhajjar, Haryana, who had won an individual gold and a team silver in the 10m air pistol event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, overcame a slow start in the 24-shot final, displaying nerves of steel to climb steadily up the leaderboard and eventually end up scoring 217.6.

Armenia’s Elmira Karapetyan, who had already booked her quota in a previous event, won gold, while Thai teenager Kamonlak Saencha clinched the silver medal and the second available quota place.

India have now clinched a maximum of 16 Paris Olympics spots available to a country in pistol and rifle events.

The country’s shotgun shooters can still earn four Paris berths in men’s and women’s trap and skeet events when the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship (Shotgun) commences in Doha on April 19.

Palak and Sainyam had qualified for the eight-woman final on Saturday placed sixth and seventh, respectively, with identical scores of 578. Sainyam finished fifth eventually.

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