Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary find their mark at European shooting championships

Indian shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker paired up to end second in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event at the European shooting championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

All Indian shooters at the event are participating as guest invitees in the Minimum Qualifying Section (MQS), which means they are not eligible to progress to the final.

The tournament is a practice opportunity for 13 of the 15 Indian shooters who will travel for the Tokyo Olympics later this year.

Saurabh Chaudhary shot 294 out of a possible 300 while Manu Bhaker scored 286, giving the duo a combined score of 580.

It placed them second among 43 pairs, only behind the Russian team of Artem Chernousov and Vitalina Batsarashkina, who shot a combined 583. Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary would have made the final if they were eligible.

It was another impressive performance from Saurabh Chaudhary, who had topped the individual 10m Air Pistol men’s event on Tuesday.

The team of Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar, meanwhile, shot a combined 630.6 to finish second among 51 teams in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event.

Elavenil Valarivan shot 315.8 while Divyansh Singh Panwar scored 314.8.

They were only beaten by the Norwegian duo of Henrik Larsen and Jeanette Duestad, who scored a European record 632.0.

A second Indian team in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event, comprising Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar, finished 38th overall and third in the MQS section.

In the 10m Air Pistol mixed team, the pair of Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Abhishek Verma finished ninth overall with a combined score of 575.

Skeet shooters Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Angad Bajwa are the only ones in the Tokyo-bound contingent not taking part in the European championships. They are currently training in Italy.