PUNE: In the end it seemed inevitable—that one among Abhishek Verma or Saurabh Chaudhary would win the Men’s 10m Air Pistol gold at the ISSF Rifle-Pistol World Cup in Rio De Janeiro.
It was the elder of the pair Abhishek this time, with a flawless 244.2 in the finals as the 17-year old Saurabh settled for bronze for a change—his sixth World Cup medal of the year and only his first bronze to go with a phenomenal five gold medals.
The signs were there early when the dynamic duo, who have now won between them all the four ISSF World Cup gold medals on offer in the year, shot scores of 584 and 582 to qualify fourth and fifth for the eight-man final.
Just one and three points separating them and the top qualifying score of 585 posted by Ukranian veteran Oleh Omelchuk.
The teenager was then comparatively subdued in the final on the day, but it was the Asian Games bronze medalist Abhishek, who was in his elements.
In a top quality finals field featuring the likes of former Olympic and World Champion Pang Wei of China, besides multiple world cup and world championship medalists like Omelchuk, Serbian Damir Mikec and Turkish Yusuf Dikec, Abhishek was second only till the first series of five shots.
He went into the lead from the 12th shot, which is also the first elimination shot of the 24-shot final and never looked back, fending of the challenge of Ismail Keles of Turkey with a sublime 10.7 for his final shot to settle the issue.
There was a bit of a flutter one could be forgiven for thinking, as a 9.6 for his 23rd shot helped the Turk go into the final shot just 0.1 behind. But any hopes that he might have harboured, were put to rest authoritatively by Abhishek’s finish. Keles managed only a 9.7 to finish with 243.1, a clear 1.1 behind the Indian.
Saurabh despite his best efforts won bronze with a score of 221.9.
The Men’s 10m Air Pistol is another Olympic event besides the Women’s 10m Air Rifle where India has now shown great quality and depth.
GOOD BENCH STRENGTH
Besides the Abhishek and Saurabh, the likes of Shahzar Rizvi have also been shooting well. Today again, just like in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle, the Indians in the non-competition MQS section also posted excellent scores. Youngsters Sarabjot Singh and Ravinder Singh matched the scores, which made the medal rounds, with efforts of 581 and 580 respectively.
Earlier, Chinki Yadav in the Women’s 25m Pistol came mighty close to making it to the finals, finishing just a point behind the final qualifying mark. She shot a 294 in the Rapid Fire round, ending up with a solid 584 to claim 10th spot.
Switzerland’s Heidi Gerber who bagged the 8thand final qualifying spot shot 585 even as Hungary’s Veronika Major claimed her third ISSF World Cup gold of the year in the event.
Annu Raj Singh making a comeback to the Indian team shot 579 to end in 25th spot while Abhidnya Ashok Patil shot 572 to end in 53rd position.
Indian shooters, shooting in the non-competitive Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) section also had a great day. Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker in the Women’s 25m Pistol, both of whom already have won Tokyo quotas for India, shot solid rounds of 580 and 583 in MQS respectively.
SHEER DOMINANCE
10M AIR PISTOL MEN’S: INDIA WON ALL 4 GOLD MEDALS IN 4 ISSF WORLD CUPS OF THIS YEAR
New Delhi: Saurabh Chaudhary
Beijing: Abhishek Verma
Munich: Saurabh Chaudhary
Rio: Abhishek Verma
RESULTS
Men: 50m Rifle 3-position: 1. Petar Gorsa (Cro) 462.2 (1177); 2. Sanjeev Rajput 462.0 (1180); 3. Zhang Changhong (Chn) 449.2 (1181); 49. Chian Singh 1161, 57. Parul Kumar 1148.
10m Air pistol: 1. Abhishek Verma 244.2 (582); 2. Ismail Keles (Tur) 243.1 (581); 3. Saurabh Chaudhary 221.9 (584); 44. Gaurav Rana 571. MQS: Sarabjot Singh 581; Ravinder Singh 580.
Women: 25m sports pistol: 1. Veronika Major (Hun) 35 (588); 2. Xiong Yaxuan (Chn) 33 (587); 3. Chia Chen Tien (Tpe) 28 (586); 10. Chinki Yadav 584; 25. Annu Raj Singh 579; 53. Abhidnya Patil 572. MQS: Manu Bhaker 583; Rahi Sarnobat 580.
