India’s Himanshu Dhillon rose to the occasion on his Asian Games debut, winning the silver medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Monday, while Rudrankksh Patil joined him on the podium with bronze.
Earlier in the day, Himanshu and Rudrankksh also teamed up with Parth Mane to win silver in the men’s 10 m air rifle team event at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery.
With three medals on Monday, India’s medal tally in shooting at the Asian Games 2026 climbed to five.
Elavenil Valarivan and the Indian women’s 10m air rifle team had won silvers on the opening day of the shooting events.
In the men’s 10m air rifle individual final, Himanshu pipped Rudrankksh by 0.1 point in a high-quality field.
Himanshu shot 252.4 while the People’s Republic of China’s Sheng Lihao, the reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1, took gold with 254.2 and successfully defended his Asian Games title.
The individual final had plenty of twists. Rudrankksh was the early frontrunner and remained in the lead after 14 shots with 148.2, with Sheng Lihao on 147.7 and Himanshu close behind on 147.4.
Himanshu Dhillon then produced a 10.9 to close within 0.1 points of Rudrankksh Patil before Sheng Lihao moved ahead after 16 shots.
The three shooters gradually pulled clear of the field and, after 20 shots, Sheng Lihao led with 211.6. Rudrankksh Patil was second on 210.6 with Himanshu Dhillon another 0.6 behind.
A costly 9.7 from Rudrankksh on his 21st attempt changed the order, allowing Himanshu to move into second place. Rudrankksh eventually bowed out with 230.9, only 0.1 behind his younger compatriot.
Himanshu Dhillon then tried to reel in Sheng Lihao over the closing shots but the Chinese shot held firm, leaving the Indian with silver.
The result capped a breakthrough year for Himanshu, who won the junior men’s 10m air rifle Asian title in New Delhi earlier in 2026. Rudrankksh, meanwhile, won the senior continental crown at the same championships.
Rudrankksh is also a former world champion, having won the men’s 10m air rifle title at the 2022 World Championships in Cairo. He was part of India’s gold medal-winning team at Hangzhou 2023, when the trio set a then-world record of 1893.7.
Earlier in the day, Himanshu, Rudrankksh and Parth scored an aggregate of 1890.1 to win the men’s 10m air rifle team silver.
Himanshu had qualified seventh for Monday’s final with 630.0, while Rudrankksh entered as the third-highest qualifier with 631.8. Parth’s 628.3 placed him 11th and out of contention for the individual final.
China won the team gold with a world record 1899.0, while the Republic of Korea took bronze with 1884.2.
