• Talat secures third position in 10m Air Pistol event.
• This is Pakistan’s first medal in the ongoing Asian Games.
• India’s Palak Gulia and Esha Singh bag gold and silver.

Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat on Friday bagged the bronze medal in the shooting discipline, securing the maiden medal for the country at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China.

Talat, competing in the 10 metres Air Pistol event, secured the third position, while India’s 17-year-old Palak Gulia and 18-year-old Esha Singh bagged gold and silver for the first and second positions, respectively.

The Pakistani shooter had a total score of 218.2 against her Indian competitors Gulia and Singh, who managed to land a score of 242.1 and 239.7, respectively.

Earlier, Pakistan’s journey ended in the 10 metres air rifle shooting discipline after Ghufran Adil, Aqib Latif and Zeeshan Fareed failed to qualify for the top 8 for next round.

Ghufran finished 31st with 622.7 points, Aaqib finished 44th with 616.7 and Zeehshan finished 53rd with 608.4 points.

Pakistan, as a whole, finished 14th with a total of 1874.8 points in the 10 metres air rifle competition.

In another shooting competition, Pakistan’s GM Bashir, who started well in the first round of the qualification phase and secured eighth position, dropped out of the top 4 race after only getting 13 points in the second round.

Pakistani female athletes cleared to travel to China

On Thursday, the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has allowed two female athletes to travel to China.

After consultation with the Pakistan Sports Board, Sahib e Asra and Arooj Kiran have been given the green signal to participate in the event.

The two were previously barred from travelling to Hangzhou with other players due to a delay in the dope test results. 

Both the players will be available to participate in the athletics event today. Asra will compete in the 400 metres race while Kiran is in the 100 metres category.