ISSF World Cup: Manu Bhaker, Saurabh Chaudhary clinch 10m mixed air pistol gold

India's Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary clinch the gold medal in 10m mixed air pistol at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.

Manu Bhaker (left) and Saurabh Chaudhary after their win. - SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

It was a consistent flow of gold medals, both in Olympic and non-Olympic events, as India continued to assert its shooting prowess in the World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Monday.

India had six gold, four silver and four bronze medals after four days of competition. US had three gold, two silver, and a bronze, while Denmark (2), Kazakhstan, Iran and Britain were the other teams to get
the gold.

The golden flow was triggered by Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar, both of whom had finished 2019 as World No.1 in air rifle before the pandemic. The duo won the mixed air rifle gold by beating Hungary 16-10 in the final, after having topped qualification both in the first and second stage.

"We put up a good show", said Elavenil, happy to have stepped it up, while Divyansh was happy to "focus on technique."

It was followed by the mixed team gold in air pistol by Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker who were challenged very well by Iran. In the climax, both Saurabh and Manu were operating in top gear as India
won 16-12.

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It was no surprise, as Manu and Saurabh had won the mixed gold in all the four World Cups in 2019. On top of it, Manu had also won the Asian mixed gold, and the World Cup Final gold.

While Saurabh was relaxed and his usual self, Manu was relieved to have played her part well.

Later in the day, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Gurjoat Khangura were flawless, as competition hotted up, to beat the strong Qatar 6-2.

After a slow start in skeet, when Gurjoat alone made the individual final, the Olympic quota winners Angad and Mairaj were able to get into rhythm and thrive on competition in front of the adoring home
supporters.

The Indian women’s skeet team of Ganemat Sekhon, Karttiki Singh Shaktawat and Parinaaz Dhaliwal put up a good fare before being beaten by the strong Kazakh team 6-4 in the final.

The extended team competition was a welcome introduction for the Indian teams to extract more international exposure while hosting such a big event.