ISSF World Cup: Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker retain pistol mixed team title

It was a successful day for Indian shooters as Tokyo Olympics quota holders Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker teamed up to win the 10m Air Pistol mixed team gold at the ISSF World Cup on Monday.

The Indian pair beat Iran’s Javad Foroughi and Golnoush Sebghatollahi 16-12 in the final. This was their fifth gold mixed team gold medal in ISSF World Cups and fourth together as a pair.

Both 19-year-olds had earlier won silver in the individual events and golds in the men’s and women’s team events at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker (384) had finished second behind the Iran pair (385) in the qualification rounds.

It seemed like a similar script would unfold in the final as the Indian shooters began slowly, with Foroughi and Sebghatollahi winning the first two series to lead 4-0, and then 6-2.

However, buoyed by a cheering home crowd, mostly consisting of other members of the Indian contingent, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker soon hit their groove, consistently shooting over 10 to tie the scores in the 10th series and then took the lead in the 11th.

The Indian shooters remained ahead after that and soon clinched gold.

The pair of Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal beat Turkey’s Illayda Sevval Tarhan and Ismail Keles 17-13 to win bronze in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event.

It was the second medal for both shooters in the current edition of the ISSF World Cup. Yashaswini had won gold in the individual women’s event while Abhishek Verma won bronze in the men’s.

Elavenil Valarivan, Divyansh win rifle gold

Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar kickstarted the day in the perfect manner as they teamed up to win the 10m Air Rifle mixed team gold medal.

This was Elavenil Valarivan’s first medal of this ISSF World Cup while Divyansh had earlier won bronze in the men’s 10m Air Rifle.

Elavenil Valarivan, the world No. 1 in the women’s 10m Air Rifle, and Divyansh, the world No. 2 in the men’s, beat Hungary’s Eszter Denes and Istvan Peni 16-10 in a closely-contested final.

Both Indian shooters shot over 10 with each of their shots. While Istvan Peni scored 10 with each shot, Eszter Denes’ three shots in the 9s proved to be the difference in the end as the home team took gold.

Men’s skeet team shoot gold, women win silver

The Indian men’s skeet team of Angad Singh Bajwa, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Gurjoat Khangura beat Qatar 6-2 in the final to win the gold medal.

Qatar, which had London 2012 bronze medallist Nasser Al-Attiya, Ali Ahmed Al-Ishaq and Rashid Hamad, won the first series but the Indian team won the next three series with a near-perfect score to triumph.

Meanwhile, the Indian women’s skeet team - Ganemat Sekhon, Kartikki Singh Shaktawat and Parinaaz Dhaliwal - won silver after falling 4-6 to Kazakhstan in the final.

This was Ganemat Sekhon’s second medal of this ISSF World Cup after a bronze in the individual event on Sunday.

The Kazakh team of Zoya Kravchenko - who won silver in the individual event - Rinata Nassyrova and Olga Panarina won the first series but the Indian team came back by winning the next two.

However, the Kazakhstan team held their nerves in the final two series, missing two shots to India’s three in each series, to condemn India to silver.

The five medals on Day 4 took India's medal tally to 14 - six golds, four silvers, and four bronze - giving them a comfortable lead at the top.

Lead photo: ISSF