Asian Games 2023: Palak Gulia, Esha Singh score double podium finish

Teenagers Palak Gulia and Esha Singh powered to a gold-silver finish in 10m air pistol event for India at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday. 17-year-old Palak shot 242.1 in the finals for an Asian Games record to swell the country's tally in the sport to 17 -- six of them gold. Pakistan's Talat Kishmala settled for a bronze after giving a tough fight to Esha.

This is the first major individual medal for Palak in an international competition after she came on the shooting scene just last year. Earlier, 18-year-old Esha Singh and Palak Gulia were part of the triumvirate that won the 10m air pistol team silver.

Family and relatives of Palak Gulia celebrated her success in Haryana's Jhajjar. "It is a big achievement to win a gold medal in Asian Games at this young age. We are confident that she will win a medal in the Olympic Games too," says Sonika, Palak Gulia's cousin.




Earlier in the day, the young trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (591), Swapnil Kusale (591) and Akhil Sheoran (587), overcame the Chinese challenge with a world record score of 1769 to take the top podium finish. Hosts China finished with 1763 points while South Korea were a distant third with 1,748 points.

Earlier on Thursday, Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, and Arjun Singh Cheema bagged another gold medal for India in the Men's 10m Air Pistol Team at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Thursday.

Overall, India now has won a total of 28 medals at the Asian Games Hangzhou, with seven gold,10 silver and 11 bronze medals.

Today, Indian women's squash team signs off with bronze at Asian Games. However, Indian women's badminton team missed out on a medal after it was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the team competition at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou. India registered a disappointing 3-0 loss to Thailand in their quarter final match.

(With Agency Inputs)