India breaks the world record in the 10m Air Rifle Men’s Team event to win its first gold medal at the Asian Games in 2023

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil, and Divyansh Singh Panwar made history for India.

At the Asian Games 2023, the Indian shooting team of Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, and Rudrankksh Patil broke a world record in the men’s 10m Air Rifle team competition. India beat China’s record of 1893.3 points at the World Championships in Baku earlier this year with an aggregate point total of 1893.7.

Rudrankksh (632.5) finished third, while Aishwary (631.6) finished fifth, qualifying them for the men’s 10m air rifle individual final, which will take place later today. It’s noteworthy that all three of the Indian contestants finished in the top eight, with Divyansh taking the final position.

Due to rules that only allow two shooters from one nation, Divyansh will not move on to the final. As a result of their improved standing, Patil and Tomar will resume the competition at 9 AM.

The Indian team started out in fourth place, however due to the nature of shooting, the positions shift dramatically as shooters complete their 10-shot series. In the lower half of the top 10, Rudrankksh, Tomar, and Divyansh were all placed. However, their combined efforts were sufficient to move India up to third place in the team standings, increasing the likelihood of a medal.

Aishwary moved up to fourth after nearly an hour, firing 51 shots for a remarkable average of 10.520. Rudrankksh had a similar average of 10.520, moving him up to 11th place with 46 attempts.

After 45 shots, Divyansh also improved, moving up to 11th place with an average of 10.485. Prior to the final series, all three of them significantly raised their ranks, positioning India to win the gold.