Ace marksman Rajyavardhan Rathore ensured India's dominance at the Asian Clay Shooting Championships when he won the double trap event at the National Shooting Centre in Singapore on Wednesday.
Rathore, who is on his first visit to Singapore, made it a memorable trip by notching an impressive score of 190 out of 200.
The Indians took their tally of gold medals to four, as apart from Rathore's individual feat, they claimed the double trap team gold.
Rathore said today's performance came as a surprise for him.
"I was really not expecting such a high score, as I was still preparing and it has been a long and busy year with so many competitions," said Rathore, the Athens Olympics silver medallist who also won the Commonwealth Games gold earlier this year.
The Indian trio of Rathore (142), Ronjan Sodhi (138) and Vikram Bhatnagar (136) grabbed the team gold with 416 points.
Shih Wei Tin, an Asian Games silver medallist behind Rathore, led Chinese Taipei to silver with 409 points. The United Arab Emirates, led by individual silver medallist here Saif Al Shamsy, took his team to bronze with 406 points.
"The competition was pretty decent with shooters from Qatar and UAE, who are strong in this event," added Rathore.
Rathore had recently changed his gun and needed some time to adjust to the new one.
"I am slowly getting used to this new gun after the previous one, with which I had won the World Cup in Cairo, got damaged. The score indicates that I am getting comfortable with it," he said.
Ronjan Sodhi missed his last bird in the competition and lost out on a medal. He finished at 185, with a fine 47 in the last round. A kill in the last shot would have sent him into a shoot-off for silver, but he went into a fight for the bronze with Rashid Al Athba and lost.
Results:
Double Trap: Team: 1. India 416 (Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore -142; Ranjan Sodhi -138 and Vikram Bhatnagar-136)l; 2. Chinese Taipei 409 (Shih Wei Tin - 138; Chang Chien Ming Shan - 136; Chen Shih Wei - 135); 3. UAE 406 (Saif Alshamsy-141; Abdulla Alkendi-133; Ahmed Dhahi -132).
Individual: 1. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (India) 46-47-49-48 (190), 2. Saif Alshamsy (UAE) 45-45-48-48 (186), 3. Rashid Al-Athba (Qatar) 43-46-48-48 (185).
Rashid Al Athba won the bronze in a shoot-off with Ronjan Sodhi (46-46-46-47).
