Asian Games 2023 Highlights: Shooters take India's medal count to 33 on Day 6; Kiran Baliyan wins bronze in women's shot put

Asian Games 2023: Two teenaged dreamy-eyed shooters, Palak Gulia and Esha Singh, set ablaze the shooting range by powering to a gold-silver finish in 10m air pistol event for India at the Asian Games. In one of the most trailblazing efforts seen by Indian shooters, the duo challenged each other for the top podium finish until 17-year-old Palak clinched the gold medal and Esha the silver 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. She shot 242.1 in the finals for an Asian Games record. Esha, who had won the individual silver in 25m pistol on Wednesday and was part of the triumvirate that won the 10m air pistol team silver along with Palak and Divya TS earlier on Friday, settled for silver, scoring 239.7. Medals continued to rain for India in the shooting arena with the country clinching a gold in men's 50m rifle three-positions team event with a world record, while the Esha Singh-led women's 10m air pistol trio bagged a silver. The men's 50m rifle 3-positions team, comprising the young trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (591), Swapnil Kusale (591) and Akhil Sheoran (587), overcame the Chinese challenge with ease with a score of 1769 to take the top podium finish, while the hosts were a clear six points adrift with 1763 points. Kiran Baliyan wins bronze with her best effort of 17.36m in women's shot put.