Anish Bhanwala clinched the silver medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol at the Asian Shooting Championship 2025 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Indian shooter shot 35 hits in the final to finish just one behind China’s 20-year-old Su Lianbofan, who clinched gold with a junior world record score of 36/40. Republic of Korea’s Lee Jaekyoon, who topped qualification, secured the bronze with 23.
This was Bhanwala’s second individual medal at the Asian Championships, having won bronze in Changwon in 2023. He won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast and helped India win a team bronze at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
India had two shooters in the final. Adarsh Singh scored 585-20x to finish second in qualifying, matching Lee’s tally, while Anish also advanced with a fourth-place finish with 583-21x. In the final, Adarsh bowed out in fifth place after shooting 15/25.
In the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team standings, India (1738-58x) settled for silver behind South Korea (1748-56x). People’s Republic of China finished third with 1733-64x.
Alongside Adarsh and Anish, Neeraj Kumar, who finished 18th in the qualifying with a score of 570-17x, completed the Indian line-up for the silver medal.
India also added a silver medal in the men’s 50m pistol team shooting event. Yogesh Kumar (548-6x), Amanpreet Singh (543-6x) and Ravinder Singh (542-9x) combined for 1633-21x to finish behind Islamic Republic of Iran, who struck gold with 1652-22x. South Korea (1619-18x) claimed the bronze.
Later in the day, India narrowly missed out on a podium in the trap mixed team event. The pair of Kynan Chenai and Aashima Ahlawat lost to Kazakhstan 38-34 in the bronze medal match. The Indian duo had earlier qualified with a total of 133 to reach the medal playoff.
The three medals on Wednesday took India’s tally up to 22 medals – nine gold, six silver and seven bronze – in senior events at the 2025 Asian Shooting Championships.
Manu Bhaker won three bronze medals, with one of them coming in an individual event – the women’s 10m air pistol.
The Indian senior shooting squad for the Asian competition comprise 35 members competing for medals in 15 events. A total of 129 Indian shooters are also competing in the junior events at the Shymkent meet.
The Asian Shooting Championship 2025 will conclude on Friday.