The air in the shooting range must have felt like it was held under water. Shapath Bharadwaj didn’t just qualify; he clawed his way into the men’s trap final at the Asian Games after a nerve-shredding three-way tie-breaker on Tuesday. He finished joint-seventh in the main qualification round with 117 points, a score that forced him into a decider against Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Rumaihi and Kazakhstan’s Alisher Aisalbayev for the last two spots in the medal round. When the smoke cleared, Bharadwaj held his nerve, edging Al-Rumaihi to seal his place. It’s a classic case of composure under pressure, the kind that separates contenders from champions.
It wasn’t a clean sweep for India, though. Kynan Chenai, who picked up bronze in Hangzhou 2023, stumbled this time, finishing 16th with 115 points. Ahvar Rizvi was further back, ending 32nd with 107. In the team event, the trio combined for 339 points to finish sixth, a respectable but podium-less result for the men’s side. The focus now shifts entirely to Bharadwaj’s individual run.
The silver linings, however, were thick. Earlier in the day, India’s women’s trap team added another medal to the tally. Neeru Dhanda, Aashima Ahlawat, and Manisha Keer secured silver with 328 points, holding off Kuwait’s bronze challenge. China took gold with a dominant 346. Dhanda also punched her ticket to the women’s individual final, finishing joint-top with 118 points. Aashima and Manisha missed the cut, finishing 16th and 23rd respectively, but the team medal keeps the momentum alive.
India’s shooting performance at these Games is a mixed bag. They’ve amassed 13 medals, but only one gold. That single gold comes from Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh’s stellar mixed 10m air pistol victory. With the overall Asian Games tally now at 46 medals—four gold, 21 silver, 21 bronze—the pressure is on to convert these opportunities into more gold metals.
Bharadwaj enters the final with a clear target in sight. Can he convert this qualification into a medal? The next fixture is the men’s individual trap final, where nerves will be tested as much as skill.