India win gold in men's 10m air pistol team event; Varun Tomar bags Paris Olympics quota place and gold medal

Indian shooters earned a gold medal in men’s 10m air pistol team event to make a positive start to their campaign at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jakarta on Monday.

Trio of Varun Tomar (586), Arjun Singh Cheema (579) and Ujjawal Malik (575) produced a total of 1740 to finish top, while Iran and Korea claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.

In the individual finals later, Varun Tomar clinched an individual gold medal and equally crucially, a quota place for the Paris Olympics. The 20-year old shot 239.6 in the final, leading to an Indian 1-2 as Arjun Cheema came second.

India have now won 14 Olympic quota places in shooting across rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines.

While all quota places in rifle have been secured, a total of four quotas have been won in pistol.

India have opened their Jakarta Asian Olympic Qualifying account with a gold