Teen shooting stars Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary made sure India ended the season-opening World Cup on home soil with a gold as they scored a dominant win in the 10m air pistol mixed team final on Wednesday in Delhi.
The teenage pair (Manu is 17 and Saurabh, 16), equalled the world record score in the qualification round and then followed it up by scoring 483.4 points in the final – a whopping 5.7 ahead of the second-placed China. The Indians climbed into the lead position after the fourth series when the elimination began and consolidated the lead to take home the gold.
This is India’s third gold at this year’s first International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup, after Chaudhary’s air pistol and Apurvi Chandela’s 10m air rifle medal.
The Indians – both 2018 Youth Olympic champions – had a mixed start to the final with six shots of under 10 in their first 10 shots. However, Chaudhary had hit two 10.8s as well, which kept the home team in second position. Shooting first, Bhaker took her time but made a formidable pair with the Asian games champion.
They maintained the second spot after the second series of five shots each. In the third series, they briefly were placed on the top as the Koreans faltered, but a sequence of 9.2 and 8.9 put them back on second.
This didn’t last long as they climbed back to the top, cheered on by a vociferous crowd at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. The Indians had all but assured gold when they opened up a lead of 3.3 and then 5.2 in the fifth and sixth series, taking the top spot with style.
While there are no Olympic quota places in this event, the teens ensured that India were joint second on the medals tally, tying with Hungary on three gold medals.
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