Trap shooter Lakshya clinches silver medal
Jakarta, Aug 20: India's shooter Lakshay Sheoran won the silver medal by finishing second, while compatriot Manavjit Singh Sandhu finished fifth in the men's trap final at the 2018 Asian Games here on Monday.
The 20-year-old, who had finished fourth in the qualification round, got 43 points to finish second behind Chinese Taipei's Kunci Yang, who equalled the world record score of 48.
AHN Daemyeong of South Korea won the bronze medal with 30 points, four ahead of Indian veteran Manavjit who had topped the two-phased qualification.
Daemyeong went out of the competition after 40 shots, getting 30 points, while till then Lakshya and Kunpi headed into the final 10-pointer round with 34 and 38 respectively.
However, it was likely that Kunpi would go on to win the gold medal having a four-point gap over the Indian.
Kunpi, 20, didn't miss any shot as he charged his way to the title with a joint world record score, while Lakshya missed a shot in the 49th spot.
The Indian missed the first stroke. But he made a strong comeback to hit 17 strokes in a row. But he fumbled in the 19th, 21st and 22nd shots to blow his chances.
He then got back his momentum and was spot on for nine consecutive strikes before flunking the 32nd and 33rd which proved to be costly.
Kunci, who was sixth to make it to the six-man final, produced a stunning final performance during which he missed only two shots -- 13th and 23rd.
Eun Jiwon of South Korea and Hagen Alexander Topacio finished fifth and sixth respectively in the six-man final.
Lakshay's medal was India's fourth medal at the Games. Of the other three, one has come from wrestling and two from shooting.
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False narrative created over 2002 Gujarat riots, courts found us innocent: PM Modi
New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the discourse around the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat was an attempt to create a false narrative and his political opponents in power at the Centre wanted him to be punished but the courts cleared his name.
In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi said the perception that the 2002 riots were the biggest riots ever in Gujarat was an attempt to push misinformation.
"If you review the data from before 2002, you will see that Gujarat faced frequent riots. Curfews were constantly being imposed somewhere. Communal violence would erupt over trivial issues such as kite flying contests or even bicycle collisions," Modi said.
The prime minister said the riots in Gujarat in 1969 lasted for more than six months and that was an era when he was nowhere on the political horizon.
Modi said the Godhra train burning incident took place barely three days after he was elected as a legislator of the Gujarat Assembly.
"It was a tragedy of unimaginable magnitude, people were burned alive. You can imagine, against the backdrop of incidents like the Kandahar hijacking, the attack on parliament, or even 9/11, and then to have so many people killed and burned alive, you can imagine how tense and volatile the situation was," he said.
"Nothing should happen, we also wish so. Everyone would wish there should be peace," the prime minister said during the podcast released on Sunday.
Modi, who was the Gujarat chief minister at that time, said the big incident at Godhra was the sparking point and violence took place. He said that a fake narrative was spread regarding the Godhra case.
"But, the courts investigated the matter thoroughly and found us completely innocent. Those who were truly responsible have faced justice from the courts," he said.
The prime minister said his political opponents were in power at the Centre when the violence took place and they were keen to see him punished over the allegations.
"At that time, our political opponents were in power, and naturally they wanted all allegations against us to stick. They wanted to see us punished. Despite their relentless efforts, the judiciary analysed the situation meticulously twice and ultimately found us completely innocent," Modi said.
The prime minister said the most important thing was that Gujarat, which used to witness violence almost every year, has not seen riots since 2002.
"Over the past 22 years, there hasn't been a single major riot in Gujarat.
"Gujarat remains completely peaceful," Modi said.
The prime minister said his approach has always been to avoid vote bank politics.
"Our mantra has been, sabka saath sabka vikas aur sabka prayas. We have moved away from the politics of appeasement practised by our predecessors to the politics of aspiration," Modi said during his over three-hour interaction.
He highlighted how some people tried to malign his image after the riots but ultimately justice prevailed and the courts cleared his name.
