European Championship: India finishes second in air rifle, air pistol mixed team events

The Indian shooters had a taste of the might of Europe in the mixed team competition in air rifle and air pistol, as they secured the second place behind Norwegian and Russian teams.

File picture of Manu Bhaker.

The Indian shooters had a taste of the might of Europe in the mixed team competition in air rifle and air pistol, as they secured the second place behind Norwegian and Russian teams in the preliminary stage of the European championship in Osijek, Croatia, on Wednesday.

In mixed pistol, Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, who have won all the five World Cup gold medals on the trot from 2019 to March this year, shot 580. Manu shot 286 out of 300, while Saurabh hit 294 with a series of 99, 98 and 97.

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But they were pushed to the second place Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov who shot 583 to top the first stage. With the medal qualification set in the second stage, India was ineligible to compete.

Yashaswini Singh Deswal (287) and Abhishek Verma (288) placed ninth, with 576, among 43 pairs.

In mixed air rifle, Elavenil Valarivan (315.8) and Divyansh Singh Panwar (314.8) placed second behind Norway for which Jeanette Hogg Duestad and Henrik Larsen put up an European record of 632.0.

Anjum Moudgil (310.1) and Deepak Kumar (312.1) placed 38th among 51 pairs.