Asian Games 2026: India Miss Women’s 10m Air Pistol Team Medal by Two Inner Shots; Manu Bhaker Reaches Individual Final

India endured a frustrating outing in the Women's 10m Air Pistol at the Asian Games 2026, missing out on a team bronze medal despite finishing level on points with Vietnam.

The Indian trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Inder Singh accumulated 1719 points, the same total as Vietnam. However, Vietnam finished third with 46 inner-10 hits (X), while India had 44, meaning the medal was decided by the X-count tie-breaker.

India therefore had to settle for fourth place, narrowly missing out on a podium finish by just two inner shots. India also had a slow start, which came back to bite them at the end despite a revival from Manu.

Individually, Manu Bhaker emerged as India's only finalist. The Olympic double medallist produced the strongest qualification score among the Indian trio with 579-20x, putting herself through to the individual final.

Esha Singh finished with 572-12x, while Suruchi Inder Singh recorded 568-12x. Both missed out on the individual final, finishing 15th and 26th respectively.

The result will come as a disappointment for an Indian team that had genuine medal hopes in the event. The narrow margin also underlined how crucial every inner-10 hit can be in elite shooting, particularly when teams finish on identical aggregate scores.

While the team medal slipped away, India's hopes in the individual event now rest on Bhaker, who will look to convert her strong qualification performance into a podium finish.

India have won Medals in Shooting

India had already enjoyed a productive start to its shooting campaign at Aichi-Nagoya, with multiple medals secured in rifle events.

India's shooting campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 has produced five medals so far - four silver and one bronze. Elavenil Valarivan has won two silvers, while Himanshu Dhillon has claimed an individual silver. India also secured men's 10m air rifle team silver, with Rudrankksh Patil adding an individual bronze.