India’s top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu has secured an Olympic quota for the country after she led from start to finish and claimed the gold medal in women’s 10-m air pistol on day one of competition at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers for Shooting. This was India’s ninth quota from shooting for the upcoming Olympic Games.

The current world record holder and former world number one, Heena shot 199.4 in the eight-women finals to finish ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chia Chen (198.1) and Gim Yun Mi (177.9) of Korea at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range. Prior to this tournament, the 26-year-old Patiala-born girl clinched a gold medal each in the Asian Air Gun Championships and Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait last September and November, respectively.

In men’s rifle prone event, young Swapnil Kusale finished 14th after aggregating 617.2 over a series of six shots. Sushil Ghale was 17th, while Surendra Singh Rathod was 24th in the pecking order. In women’s trap, where only one quota for Rio Games was on offer, Shreyashi Singh lost out in the shoot-off. The other Indian participants in the women’s air pistol event, young Yashaswini Deshwal and Shweta Singh finished 11th and 12th, respectively.