Saurabh Chaudhary continued his sensational streak in finals as he shattered the junior and senior world record winning his second International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup gold medal in Munich on Monday.
The 17-year-old shattered his own senior record of 245 points, set in Delhi earlier this year, to win the 10m air pistol gold with a score of 246.3. His junior world record was 245.5 points.
Leading the field since the second series, the composed teenager did not waver as he maintained and extended his lead to ensure his third senior gold, after the Delhi World Cup and Asian Games 2018. The Indian started with a 9.3 and was second after the first round of five shots.
Russia’s Artem Chernousov and China’s Wei Pang won silver and bronze respectively.
Shahzar Rizvi, the former world No 1, was also in the fray finishing fifth with a total of 177.6. He was placed at the bottom after the first elimination, but managed to stay afloat. However, a series of poor shots – 8.7 and 9.8 – meant he was out of contention.
Earlier in qualification, Chaudhary finished second with a total score of 586 (25 inner 10s) while Rizvi qualified on sixth place with a score of 583 (24 inner 10s.)
Also read: The silent success of Saurabh Chaudhary, Indian shooting’s youngest bonafide star
India have already clinched their maximum of two Tokyo 2020 Olympic quota places in this event, through Chaudhary (Delhi) and Abhishek Verma (Beijing). Chaudhary had shot in the MQS category in the last World Cup in China.
On Sunday, Apurvi Chandela (who has already earned a quota place in the 10m air rifle), won her second World Cup gold medal.
Overall, India already has five quota places in rifle and pistol competitions.
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