Three shooting gold medals were decided at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, with Olympic champions Zhang Changhong, Liu Yukun and Sheng Lihao leading China to the men”s 50m rifle three positions team title.
India won the event at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Zhang claimed individual gold at the Tokyo Olympics, Liu won the title at Paris 2024, while Sheng took gold in both the men’s 10m air rifle and 10m air rifle mixed team events in Paris.
In qualification, Liu was the first Chinese shooter to finish, scoring 588 points, while Sheng posted 585. Zhang then delivered a steady performance to score 593, giving China a combined total of 1,766 points and the team gold.
India briefly moved ahead of China midway through the competition but could not maintain its advantage in the standing position, settling for silver with 1,762 points. South Korea took bronze with 1,751.
In the individual final, Zhang and Liu battled Mongolia’s Erkhembayar Batbayar for the lead. Batbayar led in the first half but faltered in the elimination stage with shots of 8.8 and 7.7, allowing the two Chinese shooters to move ahead.
Zhang led Liu by 0.7 points going into the final shot but scored 9.7 to Liu’s 10.7. Liu completed the comeback to take gold with 360.5 points, edging Zhang by 0.3. Kazakhstan’s Islam Satpayev claimed bronze with 348.3 points.
Liu said competing alongside two fellow Olympic champions did not add any pressure. “There was no pressure at all. They are my teammates and we are all at this level, so I just focused on doing my own job and performing normally. Even if the score was a little lower, I didn’t think it would be a problem,” Liu said.
Zhang said there was much he could learn from his teammates. “For example, on the final shot, Liu scored 10.7 while I had 9.7. The way he performed at such a crucial moment is something I can learn from,” Zhang said.
In the 10m air pistol mixed team event, India’s Suruchi Inder Singh and Kamaljeet won gold with 484.6 points. South Korea’s Choo Ga-eun and Hong Su-hyeon took silver with 478.0, while Iran’s Haniyeh Rostamiyan and Vahid Golkhandan claimed bronze with 415.8. China’s Shen Yiyao and Bu Shuaihang failed to advance to the final.
It was India’s first shooting gold medal of the Games and Iran’s first shooting medal.
“There has been pressure to get the gold. But I thought we can do it now,” Kamaljeet said.
“We’ve broken the national record for Iran, so we have to be very happy about that,” Golkhandan said after winning bronze.