Smashes junior record for gold; Verma misses out on Olympic quota
Saurabh Chaudhary claimed a record-shattering gold in the junior 10m air pistol event but Abhishek Verma missed out on an Olympic quota after finishing eighth in the senior competition of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship here on Thursday.
While they failed to impress individually, the senior shooters, including Verma, Kapoor and Manavaditya Singh Rathore shooting a combined score of 348 to finish second behind Australia.
In the senior competition, Verma, Om Prakash Mitharwal, who claimed the 50m pistol gold, and Shahzar Rizvi pocketed the team silver with a combined score of 1738 in men’s 10m air pistol.
The 16-year-old Chaudhary, who won the Asiad gold last month, qualified third with a score of 581 before shooting down his own world record with a score of 245.5 in the final. a combined score of 1730.
The gold was snared by the Korean team, which broke the world record with its total of 1732. Russia picked up the bronze with a score of 1711.
However, there was disappointment for senior shooters in the individual competition of the 10m air pistol event. Asiad bronze-medallist Abhishek Verma raised hopes for a medal by qualifying third for the 10m air pistol event for men.
However, the lawyer-cummarksman disappointed with an eighth place finish in the final after shooting a score of 118.
Korea’s Jin Jongoh claimed the gold in this event. The local favourite was tied on a score of 241.5 with Russia’s Artem Chernousov but prevailed in the shoot-off.
India did not return empty handed though with the team of Abhishek Verma, Om Prakash Mitharwal, who claimed the 50m pistol gold, and Shahzar Rizvi pocketing the team silver with a combined score of 1738.
In junior trap, Aman shot the best among the trio, his 118 in qualification taking him to the six-man final. He ended sixth. Aman had to also overcome a four-man shoot-off to get to the final.
In women’s trap, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Shreyasi Singh managed 110 out of 125 to finish 34th, followed by Seema Tomar (108 out of 125 to finish 41st) and Varsha Verman (107 out of 125 to finish 42nd). The team signed off eighth with a combined score of 325.
India ended day five with an overall total of 14 medals which includes four gold, six silver and four bronze. They lie third in the medals tally behind Korea and Russia.
So far, Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela are the only Indian shooters to secure quota places for the Olympics by winning a silver and finishing fourth respectively in the women’s 10m air rifle event.
Though the two shooters have secured quotas, as per the stated policy, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will take the final call on selection, based on the aggregate scores of shooters (in international tournaments and selection trials) leading up to the Olympic Games. Indian football team’s chief coach Stephen Constantine Thursday said that although he was happy with the 2-0 win over Sri Lanka in the SAFF Cup opener, he expects a better performance in the coming matches.
“We need to rectify the mistakes before the next match. We started off with a good win but I am not happy with the performance. We could have scored quite a few goals more,” Constantine said.
He wants the U-23 team to play smart football.
“We have to learn how to play more smartly. We can do much better than this. Given the fact that the players are young, you can’t expect the consistency every time. Anyway, a win is always the most important aspect of the game and we move on from here,” Constantine said.
Ashique Kuruniyan, who was adjudged as the Most Valuable Player of the Match, said: “We won, but we missed many chances. We have to be quick enough on the field to utilise those opportunities.”
“I am extremely happy to have scored my first International goal. I need to deliver more for the national team.”
Meanwhile, Constantine, said there should be more players in the pipeline to put pressure on the seniors.
“We have already qualified to the AFC Asian Cup and from now, we need to have more players in the pipeline so that we can put pressure on senior players to push themselves more,” he said.
“We have just preferred to stick to our ideas to provide these young boys with an opportunity to get some more international game time.”
India will take on Maldives in the final group-stage match on Sunday.