Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10m air pistol bronze at ISSF World Cup in Croatia

Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary won the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in Osijek, Croatia on Thursday.

The 19-year-old was the lone Indian medallist in all the events on the opening day of the shooting World Cup.

The world No. 2 Saurabh Chaudhary registered a score of 220 in the finals to clinch third place on the podium. Serbia’s Damir Mikec won the silver medal with 221.6 while Iran’s Javad Foroughi scored 222.4 to bag the gold.

This was Saurabh Chaudhary’s 12th World Cup medal, adding to his eight golds, two silvers and one bronze.

Abhishek Verma, the other Indian shooter in the 10m air pistol, finished fifth.

The Indian women, however, returned empty-handed in the 10m pistol event.

The medal favourites Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Manu Bhaker could not replicate their form from the World Cup in New Delhi, where they were the top two shooters.

Manu Bhaker finished seventh while Yashaswini Singh Deswal took the eighth position in the finals.

Meanwhile, Rahi Sarnobat missed the final cut by two points, finishing in 13th place with a score of 572.

Rifle shooters struggle

Indian rifle shooters, meanwhile, endured a disappointing opening day.

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar was the only finalist among both men and women.

The 20-year-old from Madhya Pradesh finished seventh in the men’s 10m air rifle event. He had placed in the same position after the qualifying rounds to make it to the finals.

Deepak Kumar and Divyansh Singh Panwar ranked outside the top eight in the qualifiers and thus failed to make the cut for the finals.

The much-fancied women’s 10m air rifle shooters Apurvi Chandela, Anjum Moudgil and Elavenil Valarivan had a disappointing outing as none of the three qualified for the final.

Apurvi Chandela ranked 24 with 624.2 points after the qualification round while Anjum Moudgil (622.3) and Elavenil Valarivan (621.2) finished 42nd and 55th respectively.