ISSF Munich World Cup: Rahi books Olympic quota, Saurabh sets new world record
It was a memorable day for India, as Saurabh Chaudhary had earlier shattered his own world record to win the men’s air pistol gold in style. With three gold medals, following the opening gold by Apurvi Chandela in women’s air rifle on Sunday, India was proudly on top of the medals table.
Published : May 27, 2019 22:56 IST
Asian Games gold medalist Rahi Sarnobat beat reigning World and former Olympic champion Olena Kostevych 37-36 for the gold and an Olympic quota in women’s sports pistol in the Shooting World Cup in Munich on Monday. It was a memorable day for India, as Saurabh Chaudhary had earlier shattered his own world record to win the men’s air pistol gold in style. With three gold medals, following the opening gold by Apurvi Chandela in women’s air rifle on Sunday, India was proudly on top of the medals table. The 28-year-old Rahi was brilliant in the final, especially in the climax, as she returned repeated rounds of perfect five. It was the second gold in a World Cup for Rahi after the one in Changwon, Korea, in 2013. It was the sixth Olympic quota for India after the ones won by Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Divyansh Singh Panwar and Abhishek Verma for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
READ: Apurvi Chandela wins 10m air rifle gold at Munich World Cup Rahi had qualified for the final with an impressive score of 586, followed one point behind by Manu Bhaker. However, in the final, Manu missed out on a medal and the Olympic quota following a zero in the seventh series, a shocker as she was in the joint lead till then. Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Saurabh shot 246.3 in the final to beat the qualification topper Artem Chernousov of Russia by 2.5 points for the gold. In the process, the Youth Olympics, World Junior and Asian Games champion, Saurabh bettered his own world record of 245.0 set in New Delhi in February and the world junior record of 245.5 set by him in the World Championship in Korea last year. After qualifying with the second best score of 586, Saurabh was a class act in the final, in asserting his overwhelming supremacy in a strong field which had 162 shooters in all. Saurabh had been forced to compete in the MQS section in the last World Cup in Beijing, as the National Federation had wanted to maximise the chances of shooters winning Olympic quota places. But, once Abhishek Verma captured the second Olympic quota, Saurabh got back into the main team, as a country can only win a maximum of two Olympic quota places in an event.
ALSO READ: Narang foundation to shortlist 30 shooters for ‘Project Leap’ Shahzar Rizvi also made the final with a good score of 583, but ended up fifth, while Abhishek Verma was not at his best, as he could muster only 577.
| The results: Men: 10m air pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 246.3 WR (586); 2. Artem Chernousov (Rus) 243.8 (589); 3. Pang Wei (Chn) 220.7 (582); 5. Shahzar Rizvi 177.6 (583); 32. Abhishek Verma 577. MQS: Om Prakash Mitharval 579; Arjun Singh Cheema 575. 50m rifle 3-positions: 1. Zhao Zhonghao (Chn) 461.8 (1181); 2. Kim Jonghyun (Kor) 455.6 (1180); 3. Hui Zicheng (Chn) 445.7 (1183); 41. Chain Singh 1171; 52. Parul Kumar 1167. MQS: Swapnil Kusale 1178; Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar 1168. Women : 25m sports pistol: 1. Rahi Sarnobat 37 (586); 2. Olena Kostevych (Ukr) 36 (590); 3. Antoaneta Boneva (Bul) 26 (587); 5. Manu Bhaker 21 (585); 56. Chinki Yadav 571. MQS: Yashaswini Singh Deswal 577; Annu Raj Singh 572. |