Olympics qualifiers: Sangwan finds rhythm & Oly quota

New Delhi, January 11

Rhythm Sangwan won a Paris Olympics quota place for India after finishing third in the 25m pistol event at the Asian Olympics qualification event in Jakarta today.

Rhythm won the country’s 16th quota, which is a record for the Indian shooters, after scoring 28 hits that placed her behind two South Korean shooters who were ineligible for quotas in the event.

Earlier, Rhythm, who trains under Rakesh Thakur in Faridabad, shot two rapid-fire series of 100 points to qualify in the first spot with a score of 588 points. The second quota was won by Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chia Ying, who finished fifth.

“It was tough to miss out (on quota) after making two World Championships finals,” Rhythm said. “But that is sport and I guess it was waiting to be a special one, a historic one. I am very happy, especially with the medals we have won and I want to thank my entire team for the support,” the 20-year-old added.

Rhythm needed to fend off the challenge from Simranpreet Kaur Brar for the available quota as India already has one in the bag, won by Manu Bhaker.

In fifth position after the first precision round, Rhythm erased any doubts about her talent as she racked up a near perfect rapid-fire series to score 298 that propelled her to 588 points, three clear of Yeji Kim. Simranpreet shot 577 to finish in 11th place.

In the final, Rhythm struggled to log in shots in the initial stages. However, she hit back with two consecutive hits of four in the fourth and fifth series. The quota was confirmed after the sixth series as Teh Xiu Hong became the second Singaporean to be eliminated. Rhythm edged past both Wu and South Korea’s Minseo Kim to claim bronze behind Jin Yang, who won gold, and Yeji.

India also won the silver medal in the team event. The country now tops the table ahead of China with nine gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals.