Indian shooter Anish Bhanwala during a training camp. File
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
India’s Anish Bhanwala finished seventh in men’s 25m rapid fire pistol final as the country’s shooting contingent concluded its campaign in the Asian Games with 15 medals, including three gold.
Anish shot four out of five at a crucial stage of the final to finish with 11 hits from 15 shots. Although he was tied for the third-best at that stage of the final, his lower qualification score meant he lost the tie-break and was eliminated in seventh place out of eight shooters.
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Earlier, Anish qualified for the final due to a technical qualification rule rather than finishing in the standard top positions.
The Indian shooter actually finished in ninth place during the qualification round with a total score of 576-17x. Normally, only the top eight shooters advance to the medal round.
However, due to the Asian Games and International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF)’s ‘two shooters per country policy’, Anish made the cut in place of South Korea’s Song Jong Ho, who finished above Anish in the qualification.
South Korea had a dominant performance in the qualification, placing three of their shooters inside the top eight slots. Because their third-ranked shooter, Jong Ho, was ineligible to advance under the country quota rule, he had to step aside, opening up the final qualification spot and allowing Anish to progress further.
India thus ended its shooting campaign with a total of 15 medals in the sport at the 2026 Asian Games, including three gold, eight silver and four bronze.
The number is second only to athletics in terms of total medals won for India at the ongoing games.
Trap shooter Neeru Dhanda was the standout performer and led the charge with two gold and a silver.
The total number of medals won in shooting here is, however, less than the numbers in the last edition of the games in Haghzhou.
India won a total of 22 medals in shooting at the 2023 Asian Games, marking the country’s highest-ever haul in shooting at a single edition of the multi-sport extravaganza.
This is India’s second best medal haul at the continental games.
Published – October 01, 2026 05:24 pm IST
