Manu Bhaker finishes fourth in 25m pistol; India sweep women's junior event

Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished fourth in the women's 25m pistol competition before the Indian shooters swept the junior event at the Asian Shooting Championship here on Monday.

Bhaker's compatriot Esha Singh ended sixth in the eight-women final with 18 points. Bhaker shot 25, four less than Vietnam's bronze medallist Thu Vinh Trinh (29).

India's shooters, however, thoroughly dominated the 25m pistol women junior final, with Payal Khatri claiming the gold with a total of 36, Naamya Kapoor (30) winning silver and Tejaswani (27) bagging bronze.

They also won the team silver after aggregating 1700, finishing behind Korea and ahead of host nation Kazakhstan.

Naamya and Tejaswini were one and two in the qualifications, while Payal entered the junior final in sixth place.

Earlier in the day, Chinese shooters Yueyue Zhang and Jiaruixuan Xiao won the senior women's gold and silver medal respectively, the former prevailing 4-3 in the shoot-off after both were locked at 39 points.

The Indian trio of Bhaker, Esha and Simranpreet Kaur Brar won the team bronze with an aggregate score of 1749, finishing behind China and South Korea.

Esha topped the women's 25m pistol qualifications, finishing ahead of Bhaker and the two Chinese medallists Xiao and Zhang.

Bhaker, who won bronze medals in both the women's 10m air pistol individual and team events earlier in the tournament, was fourth in the women's 25m pistol qualification round after the precision stage, and Esha was second.