Asian Games: Dominant Suruchi-Kamaljeet win mixed team gold

India's under-par campaign at the ongoing Asian Games got a massive boost on Friday when the pistol shooting pair of Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet nailed the country's second gold medal. The gold also served as redemption for the shooting team, which has had an underwhelming campaign so far.

The Indians shot 484.6, an Asian record, followed by Korea (478) and Iran (415.8).

The Suruchi-Kamaljeet pair led from start to finish. Although the Koreans crept up, the Indians maintained their calm and kept nailing the high 10s.

India built an early lead with both Suruchi and Kamaljeet regularly finding the inner rings. The duo led the second-placed South Korea by 4.9 points after the first series, an advantage that proved to be the springboard of their success. The Koreans began to catch up in the second series and reduced the gap to 1.2 points.

However, as the final wore on, the Indians kept increasing the gap. After the first elimination on the 18th shot where Indonesia crashed out in fourth, the Indians had opened a massive 5.8-point lead over the field. The gap swelled to 7.1 two shots later. Going into the final two shots of the match, the Indians held a 7.2-point advantage over the Koreans.

Suruchi shot a 10.5 in the penultimate shot while Kamaljeet hit 9.5, but the Indians still led by 6.2 points. The result all but sealed, Suruchi ended the memorable final with a 10.8 as India finally secured their first shooting gold of this Asian Games.

Earlier, the Indian pair entered the four-team final after topping qualification with 587 points, equaling the Asian record in qualification. Iran were next with 584 followed by South Korean pair that shot 582. Indonesia were the last to qualify with 580.

The medal came as a redemption of sorts for the pistol team, which has had an underwhelming run thus far. The star-studded team of Esha Singh, Suruchi Phogat and Manu Bhaker returned empty-handed while none of Kedarling Uchaganve, Aakash Bhardwaj or Kamaljeet could make the finals.