Saurabh Chaudhary betters his world record in National shooting trials

Qualifying with an impressive 587, six points better than the next best, Saurabh shot 246.8 in the final, to beat his world record by 0.5 point.

Saurabh Chaudhary shot 246.8 points in the final.

Giving one’s best in every competition is often a cliche in the world of sports, but for the 17-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary, it is a honest routine.

Otherwise, it is hard to explain the manner in which he keeps beating his own World record, in air pistol as he did during the seventh National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad on Saturday.

Qualifying with an impressive 587, six points better than the next best, Saurabh shot 246.8 in the final, to beat his world record by 0.5 point. He had dominated the earlier trials, even though the qualification performance did not measure up to his high standard.

Of course, his world record shot in the Munich World Cup would stand, as the International Federation (ISSF) considers only scores shot in the World Cups, World Championships and the Continental events for ratification.

When everyone would be cautiously happy to go down by a gear on the domestic leg, after a hectic international season, Saurabh does not believe in holding his fire.

The Asian Games, Youth Olympics and World Junior champion, Saurabh has had a phenomenal season, winning two individual gold and a bronze, apart from four mixed gold medals with Manu Bhaker in the World Cups.

He may have enough scores to retain his place in the national team and be a part of the Olympic squad for Tokyo 2020, but Saurabh does not rely on any calculation. He just points and shoots his best, every time he picks the pistol.

In the absence of Saurabh, who was eligible but opted out, Arjun Singh Cheema and Monu Kumar topped the junior and youth events with 241.4 and 241.3 respectively.

In women’s 50-metre rifle 3-position event, Anjum Moudgil asserted her class by shooting 456.0 and beating Kajal Saini by 4.3 points. Anjum had shot 1170 in qualification, five points better than Sunidhi Chauhan who is trying to get back into the national squad after being relegated to the MQS section for the Rio World Cup.

Udhayveer Sidhu topped standard pistol, both in the men’s and junior section, with 579.

The results:

10m air pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 246.8 (587); 2. Shahzar Rizvi 243.7 (580); 3. Ravinder Singh 220.3 (581).

Juniors: 1. Arjun Singh Cheema 241.4 (580); 2. Vikash Kumar 239.9 (578); 3. Sarabjot Singh 219.2 (578).

Youth: 1. Monu Kumar 241.3 (580); 2. Sarabjot Singh 240.5 (578); 3. Naved Chaudhary 216.7 (577).

25m standard pistol: 1. Udhayveer Sidhu 579; 2. Neeraj Kumar 570; 3. Anish Bhanwala 570.

Juniors: 1. Udhayveer Sidhu 579; 2. Anish Bhanwala 570; 3. Vijayveer Sidhu 570.

Women:

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Anjum Moudgil 456.0 (1170); 2. Kajal Saini 451.7 (1158); 3. Lajja Gauswami 441.0 (1160).

Juniors: 1. Prasiddhi 446.3 (1140); 2. Ashi Chouksey 440.9 (1145); 3. Yashika Shinde 430.5 (1149).