ISSF World Championships: Sourabh Chaudhary claims gold with record throw

16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary smashed a record-breaking gold in the junior 10m air pistol even as Abhishek Verma failed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after finishing eighth at the ISSF World Championships in South Korea on Thursday.

Arjun Singh Cheema settled for the bronze in the same event, while the junior men’s Indian trap team comprising of Aman Ali Elahi, Vivaan Kapoor and Manavaditya Singh Rathore took the silver. They finished second behind Australia with a combined score of 348.

Chaudhary, who had clinched the gold at the 2018 Asian Games qualified third after scoring 581 in the qualifiers. He then shattered his own record with a score of 245.5 in the final event. Korea’s Hojin Lim claimed silver with a final score of 243.1m, while Cheema scored 218 to settle for the bronze.

Verma, who had scored 583 in the qualifiers managed to score just 118 in the final event to finish a disappointing eighth. He, however, was part of the Indian team that claimed the silver in the men’s 50m pistol event.

Abhishek Verma, Om Prakash Mitharwal (50m pistol gold) and Shahzar Rizvi won the silver with a combined score of 1738.

Meanwhile, the junior Indian team of Chaudhary, Singh, and Anmol scored 1730 to win the silver in the 10m pistol event.

Korea, who scored a world class 1732, clinched the gold, while Russia finished with the bronze with a combined score of 1711.