On 25 September, India bagged the first gold medal of their 2023 Asian Games campaign. On Sunday, the first day of medal events in the competition, India won three silver medals and two bronze.
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But in the men's 10m air rifle team final, the trio of Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rudrankksh Patil and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finished first to bring home a first gold medal of the 19th edition of the Asian Games for India, setting a new world record in the process.
The previous world record score of 1893.3 points was held by China, and was set just last month in Baku. In the final on Monday, Panwar, Patil and Tomar combined for a spectacular score of 1893.7 to pip the existing record and win gold.
Who are Divansh Panwar, Rudrankksh Patil and Aishwary Tomar?
Divyansh Panwar hails from Jaipur, Rajasthan, and took up shooting at the age of 12, taking after his sister Anjali. He joined the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi and trained under coach Deepak Kumar Dubey.
In 2019, Divyansh won silver in the men's 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Cup to seal India's fourth quota spot for the 2020 Olympics. Later that year, in the World Cup final he won gold in both the individual 10m air rifle and the mixed team event. He is currently ranked No 28 in the world.
Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil is from Thane, Maharashtra and is currently ranked No 8 in the world in the 10m air rifle discipline at the age of just 19. At the ISSF World Cup held in Cairo in 2022, Rudrankksh won two gold medals before winning two bronze medals at the same event in Bhopal in 2023.
Rudrankksh secured a 2024 Olympics spot with his World Cup performances, and will be hoping to bring more medals back for India next year.
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Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar is from Madhya Pradesh, and trains in Bhopal under the guidance of Indian Olympian Suma Shirur. The oldest on the team at 22 years of age, Aishwary began to learn about shooting from his father and cousins.
Aishwary won bronze at the 2019 Asian Airgun Championships in the junior 10m rifle event. He also qualified for the 2020 Olympics after securing the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup event in New Delhi. He is ranked 6th in the world in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions discipline.
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