India shooter Saurabh Chaudhary clinched the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the Youth Olympic Games on Wednesday. This is India’s third gold medal in Buenos Aires and the fourth medal overall for the shooting contingent. Chaudhary shot 244.2 to ensure a finish on top of the podium eclipsing South Korea’s Sung Yunho by 7.5 points (236.7). Switzerland’s Solari Jason stood third with 215.6.
Throughout the Youth Games, the 16-year-old from Meerut had been in scintillating form and also topped the qualifying with 580 out of 600. In the finals, he began on the front foot and maintained a healthy lead of four points over his rivals consistently. Despite four scores of under 10 to start with, Chaudhary managed to stay ahead and then extended his domination with scores of 10.7 10.4 10.4 and 10.0. He continued to lead the pack as the finals entered the elimination stage.
Chaudhary also bagged the yellow metal in the recently concluded Asian Games and Junior ISSF World Championship.
He is the second Indian to win a shooting medal at the Youth Games and the first male to do so. Manu Bhaker won the Girl’s 10m air pistol event on Tuesday to win the first ever shooting gold for India in the multi-sport event. Weightlifter had Jeremy Lalrinnunga claimed gold in the Boy’s 62kg weightlifting event. That was the first time ever that an Indian had won gold in the history of the Youth Olympics.
(With inputs from PTI)
