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Asian Games 2018: Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10M air pistol gold

At the Jakabaring International Shooting Range in Palembang, the 16-year-old won the yellow metal with a Games record 240.7.

Indias Saurav Chaudhary poses with gold medal

Palembang, August 21: India's 16-year-old teenage sensation Saurabh Chaudhary clinched gold medal in the 10M air pistol event of the 2018 Asian Games currently underway in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.

At the Jakabaring International Shooting Range in Palembang, the Grade XI student, won the yellow metal with a Games record 240.7.

Japan's Tomoyuki Matsuda won silver (239.7) while it was double delight for India as Abhishek Verma clinched the bronze (219.3).

ASIAN GAMES SPECIAL PAGE

Making his Asian Games debut, Saurabh was in a class of his own as India continued to reap a rich haul in the shooting range.

This is India's fifth medal in shooting and first gold at this edition. Overall, it is India's eighth shooting gold across all editions of the quadrennial extravaganza.

Competing in a quality field which included many Olympic and world champions, Saurabh defied the odds to pull it off. He topped in the qualification round, scoring 586, two points ahead of Korea's former Olympic champion Jin Jongoh.

In second position for most of the 24-shot final, Saurabh grabbed the lead after Matsuda fired 8.9 in his penultimate shot. The Indian went ahead with a 10.2 off his penultimate shot and 10.4 in his last which gave him the decisive lead.

In the process, Saurabh became the first Indian to win gold in the 10M air pistol event at the Games. The only other Indian to win a medal in this event is Vijay Kumar, who had clinched bronze at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

It is also Saurabh's first medal at a senior level. He had previously won the Asian Championships in the same event in 2017 and finished fourth at the World Championships in the same year.

Saurabh Chaudhary... Golden boy!

Picked for the 2018 Asian Games ahead of seasoned campaigners like Jitu Rai and Om Mitharval, whom he beat at the national selection trials, Saurabh justified his selection for the Palembang event with a terrific show.

"I didn't feel any pressure," said Saurabh, who took to the sport only three years ago.

Saurabh had shown glimpses of his talent when he had earlier set a world record, en route to clinching gold, with a score of 243.7 at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Germany.

And now with a gold-medal winning effort on his Asian Games debut, he has truly signalled his arrival on the big stage.

Saurabh, whose father is a farmer, learnt the tricks of the trade at Amit Sheoran's academy at Benoli near Baghpat, 53 kilometers from Meerut.

Whenever he is home, he helps his father in the farming business. "I like farming. We don't get much time off from training but whenever I do, I go back to my Village (Kalina) and help my father," said Saurabh, who will be soon off to Changwon, Korea for the the ISSF World Championships beginnning on August 31.

(With inputs from Agencies).

Story first published: Wednesday, August 22, 2018, 11:04 [IST]
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