Al Ain 2022: Indian shooters return home with five medals; Jakhar, Singhraj shine

The Indian Shooting Para Sport team returned home from the Al Ain 2022 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in the UAE with five medals including three gold, their best-ever show at the Worlds so far.

In doing so, the shooters also finish in the fifth place – their best finish ever after the three bronze medals at the Sydney 2019 Worlds - with South Korea leading the medals standings with 20 medals that had Hosts UAE ended in eighth place with two gold from their four medals.

For India, all the three gold medals were however won in Team Championships, while Rahul Jakhar claimed the only individual medal – a bronze medal in the P3 - Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 finals.

Jakhar was also part of the team, having Paralympic medallist Singhraj and young Nihal Singh, that won the gold medal in the P3 Team event.

Nihal who missed out on an individual medal in P3 finishing fourth after losing a shoot off against Jakhar added: “It was a great learning experience. I will try to do better in my next championships.”

Later, Jakhar combined with Rubina Francis and Deependra Singh to win the P5 - Mixed 10m Air Pistol Standard SH1 gold medal.

In the P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 individual event, Singhraj and Nihal alongwith Paralympic champion Manish Narwal claimed the Team gold after finishing on 1704-34x, ahead of Korea and Turkey.

Singhraj, however, finished a disappointing fourth in the individual finals after leading a major part of the game owing to a poor seven with six shots remaining in the finals.

“It was a good championship, but I need to work on several aspects of my game, especially on my breathing patterns. I have been working on it for a while now but still need more work. With the Paris 2024 countdown having already begun, there is no time to rest; the process continues,” admitted Singhraj who secured a Paris 2024 quota place for India.

Singhraj also paired with Narwal and Deepender to take the silver at the P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 finishing behind Korea.

Among the top names, Paralympic star Avani Lekhara who was shooting with her new rifle and new wheelchair faltered in the finals of  R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 and R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1, finishing in the fifth and sixth places.