Saurabh Chaudhary, Elavenil Valarivan impress at European shooting championships
Indian shooters are participating under the MQS category, meaning they are not eligible for the finals.
India’s shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Elavenil Valarivan produced admirable performances on the opening day of the European Championships at Zagreb, Croatia.
Both Saurabh Chaudhary and Elavenil Valarivan are part of India’s Tokyo-bound shooting contingent, which is currently participating in the Zagreb event. All Indian participants, however, are competing in the MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) section and cannot shoot in the finals.
The event is more of a training competition for the Indian shooters, providing them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the types of targets which will be used in Tokyo.
Saurabh Chaudhary, the world No. 2 in men’s 10m air pistol, shot a score of 589 to top his event’s MQS list. The score would have also sufficed to lead the entire qualification round field if he were shooting to get into the final.
Ukraine's Oleh Omelchuk aced the main qualification list with 586.
Saurabh Chaudhary’s team-mate Abhishek Verma, meanwhile, scored 579 to finish fourth in the men’s 10m air pistol MQS list.
In women’s 10m air rifle, reigning world No. 1 Elavenil Valarivan shot a 630.4 to top her MQS list, beating Iranian duo Armina Sadeghian (629.8) and Fatemeh Karamzadeh (628.7).
Elavenil Valarivan 's score would have seen her make the final with a second place in the regular qualification list. Only Slovenia’s Ziva Dvorsak (630.8), who won gold in the New Delhi ISSF World Cup, scored more.
Apurvi Chandela (627.8) and Anjum Moudgil (624.7) finished fourth and seventh, respectively in the women’s 10m air rifle MQS list.
Another Indian shooter who looked in fine form was Divyansh Singh Panwar. The youngster finished second in his event’s MQS list with 628.10 behind China’s Lihao Sheng (630.5).
Divyansh Singh Panwar’s Indian compatriots Deepak Kumar (627.4) and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (625.0) placed third and fifth, respectively.
In the main qualification list, Russia's Vladimir Maslennikov (631.8) topped the leaderboard, where 627.1 was the cut for the finals.
The Indian showing in women’s 10m air pistol, however, was slightly disappointing. Manu Bhaker (573) and Yashaswini Singh Deswal (572) could only finish third and fourth respectively in the MQS list.
None would have qualified for the finals, though, with the cut off in the main list set at 574.
“This competition is the best possible start for our final preparations for Tokyo. Though this competition is non-consequential in terms of medals, it’s a very good competition exposure for the team. Everyone looked good today,” India’s rifle coach Deepali Deshpande told PTI.
Of the 15-member Indian shooting team named for the Tokyo Olympics, the 13 rifle and pistol shooters are in Croatia, participating in the European Championships.
Only skeet shooters Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Angad Singh Bajwa are training in Italy.