India wins first medal of Asian Games 2023; silver in 10m air rifle team event

Indian shooters opened their account at the Asian Games, bagging the women's team silver in the 10m air rifle event in Hangzhou on Sunday.

Experienced Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey's combined score of 1,886.0 earned them the second spot behind hosts China, who smashed the Asian record with an amazing 1896.6 points.

India could be in line for a women's 10m air rifle individual medal as well, as Mehuli and Ramita also reached the eight-shooter final, which will be held later in the day.

In the qualification round, Ramita, just 19 years of age, finished second scoring 631.9 while Mehuli was fourth with a score of 630.8 points.

All three Chinese Chinese shooters -- Han Jiayu, Huang Yuting and Wang Zhilin -- entered the final, while South Korea's Lee Eunseo, Mongolia's Ganhuyag Nandinzaya and Chinese Taipei's Chen Chi were the other three shooter to make the eight-team final.

The team medals in shooting are decided on the combined scores of a country's shooters in the qualification round.