Varun Tomar and Esha Singh secure Paris Olympic quota after clinching 10m gold in Asian Shooting Qualifiers

India's young shooters Varun Tomar and Esha Singh both secured Paris Olympic quota for India by winning gold medals in the men's and women's 10 meter air pistol event respectively at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta on Monday.

With both of them qualifying for the Olympics, India's shooters have secured 15 Paris Olympic quota places and also equaled their previous best performance of fielding the most shooters in the Tokyo Games. Indian shooters will also have a chance to make it to the Games to be held in July-August this year through the remaining qualifier events.

India started its campaign with a total of six medals including two team golds on the first day of this continental competition.

Twenty-year-old Tomar topped the final with a score of 239.6 while his compatriot Arjun Singh Cheema won the silver medal with 237.3. Mongolia's Davaakhüü Enkhtaivany (217.2) won the bronze medal.

Earlier, the Indian team of Tomar (586), Arjun (579) and Ujjwal Malik (575) had topped the team event with a total of 1740 points. Iran and Korea won silver and bronze medals respectively.

Meanwhile, in the women's category, 18-year-old Esha won the gold medal in the final with 243.1 points. Pakistan's Talat Kishmala (236.3) won the silver medal while Esha's compatriot Rhythm Sangwan (214.5) won the bronze medal.

The Indian trio of Esha, Rhythm and Surbhi Rao also won the gold medal in the team event with a total of 1736 points. Esha has won gold medals in the World Championships with the 10 meter air pistol mixed team and 25 meter pistol team.

A total of 16 places for the Paris Olympic quota are at stake in this prestigious continental competition. There are four quotas in the 10m air pistol event for men and women, out of which a maximum of three can be won by Indian shooters.

In this competition, about 385 shooters from 26 countries will compete at the Senayan Shooting Range in Jakarta to achieve the Paris Olympic quota and win 256 medals (84 gold, 84 silver and 88 bronze medals).

Notably, India has already secured 13 Paris Olympic quota places in rifle, pistol and shotgun events before this competition.