Kuwait City, January 20

Raiza Dhillon and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka secured two more Paris Games quotas for India to stretch the tally to 19 by winning silver medals in their respective skeet events at the Asia Olympics qualifiers here today.

Dhillon earned the country’s 18th quota by claiming silver in the women’s skeet before Naruka finished second on the podium in the men’s skeet final with a total of 56, missing the gold by one point to Chinese Taipei’s Meng Yuan Lee (57).

Kuwait’s Mohammad Aldaihani (47) won bronze and the second quota on offer in the men’s final.

Dhillon, 19, looked to be on top of her game and led the six-women final till it reached the halfway stage, following which the Indian missed some targets to cede ground to China’s Jinmei Gao, who won the gold medal by shooting down 56 targets in the 60-shot final. Dhillon finished second with 52 hits.

Both Gao and Dhillon secured a Paris Games quota each for their respective country.

Dhillon’s compatriot Maheshwari Chauhan settled for bronze with a 43, while Ganemat Sekhon, the other Indian shooter in the final, ended fourth with a 30.

To begin with, Dhillon was on top of the table with six out of six targets. The Indian continued to lead the final with 14 hits, remaining two ahead of Gao.

However, in what was turning out to be an engrossing final, Dhillon then missed two targets as Gao led for the first time. Dhillon missed again in the next outing as the Chinese maintained her lead to leave the two Indians to fight for the silver medal. Dhillon prevailed to enter the fight for the gold medal, while Chauhan left her station with bronze.

Dhillon missed twice at the start of gold medal contest as Gao led by three points to seal the issue in her favour.

Earlier, Sekhon was second in the qualification with a total score of 117, Chauhan was placed third with a 115 after prevailing in a shoot-off with Qatar’s Al Sharshani Reem, while Dhillon qualified for the final in the sixth place, completing the top six line-up.