India’s 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary shot his way to a stunning gold medal while 29-year-old debutant Abhishek Verma won bronze in the men’s 10m air pistol at the ongoing Asian Games on Tuesday. Both shooters were competing in their first senior final.
This is the first time in Asian Games history that two Indian shooters have finished on the podium in the same event.
In the dramatic final, the teenager was placed second by a difference of only 0.4 points before the last two shots to decide gold. But the Uttar Pradesh shooter held his nerve while the 42-year-old Tomoyuki Matsuda shot a poor 8.9 in the penultimate round. Chaudhary had a foot in and he followed it with a 10.4 to clinch the gold with an Asian Games record of 240.7 to beat the veteran to gold.
Verma, a hobby shooter who became India No 1, got the bronze with a score of 219.3 and held his own in the tough field that included Korea’s multiple-Olympic medallist Jin Jingoh.
(All the updates from day 3 here)
After first series of shots in the final, Chaudhary was placed second with a total of 50.6 and Verma was fourth with 50.5 points as very little separated the first four. Both maintained their ranks after the second series but had comparatively poor second series with several 9s and the teen fell to fourth after the first elimination.
But both Indians recovered after that to stay in the fight and they climbed to third and fourth spots respectively. A string of good scores from then on under pressure assured India two medals in one shooting event at the Asian Games for the first time.
In the qualification, Chaudhary had scored a stunning 586 with scores of 99, 99, 93, 98, 98, 99, finishing on top.
Earlier this year, the teen had bagged the gold in 10m air pistol with a junior world record score at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, with a superb 243.7 in the final.
As for Abhishek Verma, he had sealed his spot in the Indian team for the Asiad winning the Selection Trials 5 in June, beating the likes of Jitu Rai and Amanpreet Singh.
India miss out in trap final
In the other final slated for the day, India’s Shreyasi Singh and Lakshay Sheoran finished sixth in the Mixed Team Trap event. They made it to the six-team final, finishing fifth in qualifying with a combined effort of 142 out of 150.
They however could not find their bearings in the final and were first to be eliminated on a score of 16. Lebanon won Gold while Chinese Taipei won Silver in the event.
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