Saurabh Chaudhary climbed the ISSF World Cup podium again when he won the 10m air pistol bronze in Lima, Peru on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who made his comeback into the Indian shooting team after a gap of more than two years earlier this year, finished with a score of 219.1 in an eight-shooter final which also included Paris Olympics champion Yu Xie, who finished fifth, and 2016 Olympics silver medallist Almeida Felipe Wu, who won the silver. Chaudhary had won the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event with Suruchi Singh at the recent ISSF World Cup in Argentina.
“It has been a long time since I won an individual World Cup medal. Even though I don’t see or care about whom I am competing against, to win the medal in the final where the reigning Olympic champion and the Rio Olympics silver medallist were competing means it’s the start of a new journey,” Chaudhary told The Indian Express minutes after the final.
The eight shooter-final also featured, among others, Chinese Kai Hu, who had won the gold in the event at the ISSF World Cup in Argentina, as well as Chaudhary’s cousin Varun Tomar, and Christian Reitz, the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol champion from Rio.
Chaudhary started the final with a series of 50.7 to be placed second behind Xie, who shot a first series score of 50.8. Tomar shot 50.5 to be placed third after the first five shots. With all eight shooters returning with shots close to 10 or below, it was a low-scoring first series.
Chaudhary, who had only one score in excess of 10.5 in the first series, had a disastrous second series with four shots below 10 and only one of 10.0, would drop to fourth place. Hu had a lead of 2.0 points over Tomar with Wu in third spot with a total score of 100.2. “Saurabh did start slowly but all shooters were struggling since the final hall here was a bit darker. But once Saurabh adjusted and found his rhythm, he shot consistently. This medal will give him a lot of confidence,” national coach Om Prakash told The Indian Express.
Saurabh Chaudhary with national coach Om Prakash after winning the bronze. (Special Arrangement)
After the first elimination stage, Tomar was placed third with a score of 119.5 with Chaudhary in joint fifth spot. Hu was leading the final with a score of 123.0.
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The second elimination stage saw Varun climbing to the second spot with a total score of 140.5, with Hu remaining the leader with an advantage of 2.8 points. Chaudhary remained in fifth spot with a score of 139.4 as Reitz was eliminated from the final.
The next two shots in the next elimination stage saw Chaudhary shooting 10.2 and 10.6 to climb to the second spot with a total of 160.2 and Tomar placed fourth.
But with Xie shooting a poor next elimination stage with shots of 9.4 and 9.2 to be eliminated in fifth spot and Chaudhary (10.2 and 10.2) and Tomar (10.0 and 10.5) staying in the top four, it meant that both the Indians were in contention for medals with Hu leading just 0.1 points ahead of Chaudhary. Tomar would exit in fourth spot after the next elimination series but Chaudhary would maintain the third spot. In the next elimination stage, Chaudhary shot a 9.6 each to finish with the bronze medal.
“Going ahead in the final, both of us knew we had to give our best. It was unfortunate to miss a medal here but that’s shooting. I have always seen Saurabh as my inspiration as he had started shooting before me. During competition, whenever we shoot we focus on our individual shooting and that’s the way it has always been, “ said Tomar.
