ISSF World Cup 2019: Saurabh Chaudhary wins gold in 10m air pistol, secures Tokyo Olympics quota

Saurabh Chaudhary scored 245.0 points (with an average higher than 10.2 points per shot throughout the final) to secure the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event.

Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary secured Tokyo Olympics quota with 10m air pistol gold in ISSF World Cup in New Delhi on Sunday. The 16-year-old shooter scored 245.0 points (with an average higher than 10.2 points per shot throughout the final) to secure the gold medal.

File image of Saurabh Chaudhary. (Twitter)

Silver medalist Damir Mikec (239.3 points) won the second Olympic berth at Sunday’s final. The 2008 Olympic Champion Pang Wei, of the People’s Republic of China, finished third with 215.2 points.

Such was Saurabh’s 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.

Saurabh, who started strongly finished tied on top with Serbian Mikec at the end of the first series. In the second series, the champion shooter continued his good form and finished at the top.

Other Indians competing in the event, Abhishek Verma and Ravinder Singh, failed to qualify for the final.

On Saturday, India’s Apurvi Chandela shattered the world record on her way to the women’s 10m air rifle gold with an incredible sequence of scores that never dropped below 10 in the ISSF World Cup.

Producing her finest performance, the 26-year-old Chandela shot 252.9 to win the top prize on day one of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) competitions, at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

China’s Ruozhu Zhao bagged silver with 251.8 while another Chinese, Hong Xu (230.4), finished the tournament’s first final with a bronze.

(With inputs from agencies)