Silver linings for Deepak, Lakshay

Jakarta, Aug 20: Deepak Kumar and Lakshay Sheoran won silver medals in the men's 10m Air Rifle and Trap events respectively as Indian shooters continued their impressive performance at the 18th Asian Games here on Monday.

Deepak finished second with a score of 247.7, while compatriot Ravi Kumar finished fourth scoring 205.2 in the men's 10m Air Rifle competition. China's Haoran Yang bagged gold with a record score of 249.1m.

It was also the 30-year-old's first medal at the Asiad. Prior to this, Deepak had earned the fifth spot in the qualification round while Ravi was placed fourth.

Lakshay finished second, while compatriot Manavjit Singh Sandhu was fifth in the men's trap final.

The 20-year-old Lakshay, who had finished fourth in the qualification round, got 43 points to finish second behind Chinese Taipei's Kunpi Yang, who equalled the world record score of 48.

AHN Daemyeong of South Korea won the bronze medal with 30 points, four ahead of Indian veteran Manavjit who had topped the two-phased qualification.

Daemyeong went out of the competition after 40 shots, getting 30 points, while Lakshay and Kunpi headed into the final 10-pointer round with 34 and 38 respectively.

However, it was likely that Kunpi would go on to win the gold medal having a four-point gap over the Indian.

Kunpi, 20, didn't miss any shot as he charged his way to the title with a joint world record score, while Lakshay missed a shot in the 49th spot.

The Indian missed the first stroke. But he made a strong comeback to hit 17 strokes in a row. But he fumbled in the 19th, 21st and 22nd shots to blow his chances.

He then got back his momentum and was spot on for nine consecutive strikes before flunking the 32nd and 33rd which proved to be costly.

Kunpi, who was sixth to make it to the six-man final, produced a stunning final performance during which he missed only two shots — 13th and 23rd.

Apurvi Chandela finished fifth in the women's 10m Air Rifle finals. Despite a great start as Apurvi was once placed third, the 25-year-old faltered towards the end and could manage to shoot only 186 points to finish fifth.

Earlier on Monday, Apurvi scored 629.4 points to be placed second in the qualification round.

On Sunday, Apurvi along with Ravi Kumar had bagged bronze in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event.

Seema Tomar finished sixth in the women's trap event as she disappointed with 12 points in the finals.