New Delhi: Sixteen-year-old boy Saurabh Chaudhary beat the men standing in his way to claim gold with a new record in the ISSF World Cup here on Sunday, securing India’s third Olympic quota, but there was disappointment in store for Manu Bhaker.
Unfazed by a field comprising seasoned campaigners, Chaudhary smashed the men’s 10m air pistol world record in his maiden senior World Cup appearance, at the season-opening International Shooting Sport Federation event.
Qualification topper Manu, however, finished fifth in the women’s 25m pistol event after starting strongly.
Asian Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist Chaudhary ended the event with a total score of 245. Dami Mikec of Serbia was second in the podium with a score of 239.3, while the bronze medal was bagged by 2008 Olympic champion Wei Pang of China, who managed 215.2.
Such was his dominance in the eight-men final that he finished the event 5.7 points ahead of the silver medallist, the gold assured even before his final shot.
Chaudhary showed no signs of nervousness despite his first senior World Cup outing and started strongly to finish on top with Serbian Mikec at the end of the first series.
Other Indians competing in the event, Abhishek Verma and Ravinder Singh, failed to qualify for the final. Both Abhishek are Ravinder finished with a total score of 576 in the qualification round.
In the day’s last final, Hungary’s Veronika Major created a new world record to clinch the gold medal with a total of 40. The silver went to Jingjing Zhang of China while Haniyeh Rostamiyan of Iran settled for the third place on the podium.
Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist Manu ended the event with a total score of 22 at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
In the first series, Manu scored 3 out of a possible 5. She found the mark just twice in the second series, slipping to the seventh position.
The multiple World Cup medallist was on target in the third series jumping to the second spot. However, Manu struggled to find the target consistently and finished fifth. She had qualified for the final with a score of 590 while Rahi Sarnobat and Chinki Yadav failed to advance. (PTI)
