India's Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men's 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions shooting event of the 18th Asian Games on Tuesday, 21 August. This is Sanjeev’s fourth Asian Games medal.
Sanjeev scored 452.7 in the finals to hold the second place. The 37-year-old had earlier bagged bronze in the same category at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
China's Hui Zicheng secured the gold medal after scoring 453.3, while Japan's Takayuki Matsumoto settled for bronze with a score of 441.4.
A gold medallist from the 2018 Commonwealth Games earlier this year, 37-year-old Rajput had finished 7th in the qualification round with a score of 1,160.
(For complete coverage of the 2018 Asian Games, click here.)
After the first 15 shots, the Indian shooter had climbed to the second spot. He raced to the top spot after the kneeling and prone rounds, with a score of 307.1. He had an average end to the finals but bounced back just in the nick of time to clinch silver.
It was still a good result for the Yamuna Nagar shooter, who had also won a gold at the recent Commonwealth Games.
With a rape case going on against him, Sanjeev is without a job, having been sacked as assistant coach from the Sports Authority of India last year.
I hope to get a job now. Let’s see. I shot an 8.4 in the end. That cost me the gold. The competition, the weather (hot) and wind conditions were very tough.Sanjeev Rajput to PTI
It was the first individual medal for the former Navy man at the Asian Games, having won team medals in the previous three editions.
(With inputs from PTI)
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