Asian Games 2026: Himanshu and Rudrankksh secure silver-bronze double podium in air rifle

Indian shooters added three medals to the country’s tally with the men’s 10m air rifle team event at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Monday.

Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Patil secured silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men's air rifle individual final. China's Sheng Lihao won the title.

It was an impressive silver medal for the debutant Himanshu, who became only the third Indian male air rifle shooter to win silver at the Asian Games after Gagan Narang (2010) and Deepak Kumar (2018).

Overall, this marked India’s first-ever double podium finish in the event, with Rudrankksh Patil earlier securing the bronze medal as India continued its medal streak in men's air rifle individual since 2010.

Earlier, the trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Himanshu Dhillon and Parth Mane combined for a total of 1890.1 to finish second behind China, who set a new world record with 1899.0.

India were the defending champions, but the team could not find their best rhythm and finished nearly nine points behind the dominant Chinese side.

In the individual qualification, Rudrankksh Patil (631.8) and Himanshu Dhillon (630.0) advanced to the final, finishing third and seventh respectively.

Former junior world champion Parth Mane, making his Asian Games debut, had a disappointing start, finishing 11th with a score of 628.3.

China’s Sheng Lihao topped the qualification with 635.4, followed by compatriot Mi Sihan in second place with 633.0.

The three shooting medals today, combined with a bronze medal for Suchika Tariyal in MMA, take India's overall tally to six medals - 2 silver and 4 bronze.