Mahit Sandhu clinches gold in 50m Rifle 3 Positions, her fourth medal at Deaflympics
Tokyo, November 22
India's Mahit Sandhu clinched the gold medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions women's event, making it four medals in her debut Summer Deaflympics here in Tokyo on Saturday.
In a tightly contested final, Mahit shot a combined score of 456.0 after 45 shots to win her second gold medal in the games. South Korea's Dain Jeong won silver with a final score of 453.5, while Mira Zsuzsanna Biatovszki of Hungary won bronze with a score of 438.6. Mahit also broke the Deaf Qualification World Record and the Deaflympics World Record enroute to the finals, as per a press release from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI).
Mahit shot 585-31x in qualification with scores of 194 in kneeling, 198 in prone and 193 in standing, breaking her own world record of 576 w,hich was set last year in the World Deaf Shooting Championships in Hannover. The other Indian in the competition, Natasha Joshi, qualified for the finals in seventh place with a score of 566-12x. She finished fifth in the finals with a score of 417.1.
In the final's Mahit was on top of the pile after the completion of the kneeling, prone and ten shots of the standing series. In the 41st shot, Mahit hit a 9.4, and Dain Jeong's 10.1 gave the Korean the lead, but Mahit came back strongly and hit all her remaining four shots in the 10s to secure the gold medal.
The Indian shooters have won 14 medals at the Deaflympics till now, including five gold, six silver and three bronze medals. Abhinav Deshwal and Chetan Hanmant Sapkal will be in action tomorrow in the 25m Pistol event.
— ANI
Reader Comments
The way she bounced back after that 9.4 shot shows real champion mentality. Four medals in debut Deaflympics - kya baat hai! 🥇
Why isn't this getting more coverage in mainstream media? Our para-athletes and deaf athletes achieve so much but get minimal recognition compared to other sports.
Amazing to see Indian women excelling in shooting sports! Mahit and Natasha both performed well. The future looks bright for Indian shooting.
Breaking her own world record twice! That's some serious consistency and improvement. Hope she gets proper support and recognition from the government.
The mental strength required to come back after losing the lead in the 41st shot is incredible. True champion material! All the best for future competitions.
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