India's air rifle mixed teams win gold and bronze at Deaflympics

Tokyo, Nov 18 (PTI) Indian shooters continued their domination at the 25th Deaflympics here Tuesday, securing a double-podium finish by winning both the gold and bronze medals in the 10m air rifle mixed team event.

The pair of Dhanush Srikanth and Mahit Sandhu clinched gold by overcoming the South Korean duo of Jeon Dain and Kim Woorim, while Mohammed Murtaza Vania and Komal Milind Waghmare added a bronze to their individual medals after getting the better of Ukraine's Violeta Lykova and Oleksandr Kostyk.

In the gold medal match, Dhanush and Mahit raced to a 4-0 lead in the beginning and maintained a clear gap with the Korean pair, eventually clinching the match 17-7.

This is Dhanush's second gold meal of the Deaflympics, while Mahit added a yellow metal to her silver which she won in the individual event.

The bronze medal match was tighter, with the Ukrainian pair also featuring the women's individual gold medal winner Violeta Lykova.

Both pairs were tied 4-4 after the end of the fourth series and at the end of the sixth series, Ukraine were leading 7-5.

Murtaza Vania and Komal then tied the scores at 7-7, 8-8 and 10-10 after four more rounds. The Indians then won two out of the next four rounds, with the points being shared in the other two. Eventually, they secured the bronze medal, winning 16-12.

The Indian shooters have won a total of nine medals across three days of competition. The air pistol mixed teams will be in action Wednesday as India look to add more medals to their tally in shooting at the Deaflympics. PTI AH AH ATK