Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10m air pistol gold at ISSF World Cup

Saurabh Chaudhary defeated Micheal Schwald of Germany in the gold medal match of the 10m air pistol event to win India's first medal at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo.

File picture of Saurabh Chaudhary.

Former world No.1 and Asian Games gold medallist Saurabh Chaudhary struck gold in the new format in men’s air pistol in the shooting World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday.

In a long knock-out which has replaced the 24-shot final of the earlier format, Saurabh paced himself nicely to the top of the list from among 92 shooters, after qualifying in the third place with 584.

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Qualification topper and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist was pushed to the bronze medal, while Saurabh outclassed Michael Schwald of Germany 16-6 in the gold match.

In the women’s section, 17-year-old Esha Singh did well to win the silver behind Olympic champion Anna Korakaki of Greece, after a modest fare in the qualifying stage.

Esha, who had shot better than Anna in the semifinal stage, pushed Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Antoaneta Kostadinova to the bronze.

The results: 10m air pistol Men: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 16 (42.5) 38 (584); 2. Michael Schwald (Ger) 6 (41.5) 37.5 (582); 3. Artem Chernousov (Rus) 40 (38) 591; 31. Gaurav Rana 575; 67. Kedarling Uchaganve 563; RPO: Pradhyumn Singh 563. Women: 1. Anna Korakaki 16 (37) 40 (583); 2. Esha Singh 4 (35.5) 41.5 (578); 3. Antoaneta Kostadinova 26.5 (40) 584; 27. Shri Nivetha Paramanantham 569; 33. Ruchita Vinerkar 567.