Guangzhou: Ronjan Sodhi finally brought an end to the shooting contingent's gold drought by taking the honour in the men's double trap event on the ninth day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games here on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Sodhi, the world record holder shotgun shooter, made amends for his colleagues' miserable campaign and provided the first gold medal from the shooting range, which has not been too productive for the Indian shooters so far.
Sodhi also teamed up with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar to claim the bronze in the double trap team event.
Sodhi clinched the top honours in the double trap individual event with a score of 186 after being second behind China's Pan Qiang at the end of the qualification stage.
Sodhi shot 139 (47, 44 and 48) and was four shots behind China's Qiang going into the finals competed by six men and shot 47 in the final while the host nation shooter flopped with a 38 for an overall tally of 181.
This was the first gold from the much-heralded shooting squad after they started competing on November 13.
Sodhi, whose best this year has been 195 that he made in the World Cup in Italy and is the joint holder of the world record of 196, said the medal round was tension-packed.
"The final was very, very close. In the final, it's a different ball game. People start missing and that happened," he said.
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