Asian Championship 2026: Rudrankksh, Babuta complete 1-2 in 10m air rifle; Vanshika, Mukesh win junior mixed team air pistol gold

10m air rifle shooters Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Arjun Babuta completed a sensational one-two at the ongoing Asian Championship for rifle and pistol events at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.

Rudrankksh had a field day on Friday. First, he topped qualification with a score of 632.1, the highlight of his performance being the 107.1 off the last series.

In the eight-man final, he picked right up from where he had left off to creep up to the top two once the elimination stage began. Japan’s Naoya Okada, the eventual bronze medallist, lost his lead two series later, as Rudrankksh never had to look back since.

Babuta, sixth in the qualification round with 628.0, finished 1.2 points behind Rudrankksh to win silver.

India’s Vishal Singh, 10th in qualification, was the last shooter to qualify with two RPO (Ranking Points Only) athletes in the mix. He finished fifth in the final with 185.5 points.

READ: Asian Shooting Championships — India’s breakout star Suruchi targets consistency

Kiran Ankush Jadhav had a good day in the office as the marksman notched 628.9 in the qualification round. He finished fourth but wasn’t eligible to play the final as he was playing for RPO.

With just one team per National Olympic Committee (NOC) eligible to make the four-team final, only the pairing of Vanshika Chaudhary and Mukesh Nelavalli was eligible to compete for the junior 10m air pistol mixed team medals despite Rashmika Sahgal and Jonathan Gavin Anthony finishing second in the qualification. Incidentally, Vanshika-Mukesh’s gold medal-winning 481.1 is the new junior world record.

Indonesia (Arista Perdana Putr Darmoyo and Muhamad Iqbal Raia Prabowo) won silver in the event, while Kazakhstan (Assylym Zhakiya and Tamerlan Yerdembek) bagged bronze.

Published on Feb 06, 2026