HANGZHOU: The duo of Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS gunned down India's 19th medal in shooting. They settled for silver in the 10m air pistol mixed team - an Olympic event - here on Saturday.
The Indians led the final against the Chinese pair of Bowen Zhang and Ranxin Jiang till 7-3 on points before the local favourites tied the scores after the 12th shot and rallied to upstage their opponents 16-14 in the gold medal match. The team which reaches 16 points first wins the final in the mixed contest.
The Indians were undone by a lowly 9.9 by Sarabjot on his final shot. In return, Zhang came up with a brilliant 10.7. Both Sarabjot and Divya seemed somewhat distracted by the large crowd support for the Chinese, which vociferously cheered every point won by them. However, credit to the Indians for putting up a strong fight against the seasoned Chinese pair - Zhang is the reigning world champion in the men's individual event and Jiang is the Tokyo Olympics mixed team gold medallist.
"It does feel good to win a silver. We did a great job. I liked the way I fought well in the finals. I loved my shooting today, from my first shot to my last shot. We couldn't finish on the top, but a silver-finish is equally credible," said Divya after the match. The shooter from Karnataka said she is now hoping to qualify for the Paris Olympics. "Next year is a big year. Working consistently and getting there (Paris) is very important. I'm trying to qualify and I'm preparing my best. We have very good, supporting coaches here. I'm very thankful to everybody who has supported my journey so far," she added.
