Rahi Sarnobat booked an Olympic quota for India with a gold medal in women’s 25m pistol while teenage shooting sensation Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold with a world record in men’s 10m air pistol at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
The 28-year-old Rahi was very impressive in the final as she registered rounds of perfect five towards the end. It was the second gold in a World Cup for Rahi after the one in Changwon in 2013.
Teenager Manu Bhaker had a better start than Rahi with perfect five hits while Rahi registered three in the first five shots of the final. After the 6th series, Manu was jointly tied at the top with Rahi and the reigning World Champion Olena Kostevych of Ukraine with 21 points. However, in the following series, Manu registered a zero due to an unfortunate double weapon malfunction and was eliminated on the 5th place.
Rahi, however, kept getting stronger and registered perfect five hits in the 8th and 9th series, to finish with 37 points.
Earlier in the qualification, Rahi shot 586 while Manu shot 585 which saw them qualify for the six-woman final in the 4th and 5th place respectively.
The third Indian in the event, Chinki Yadav shot 571 to finish 56th in a field of 105 shooters.
Olena won the silver with 36 points while Antoaneta Boneva of Bulgaria won the second available quota by winning the bronze.
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 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Earlier, Saurabh had set the ball rolling for India as he not only won the gold but also rewrote his senior and junior world records with a score of 246.3. Saurabh previous world record of 245.0 was set by him at the Delhi World Cup in February and the junior world record of 245.5 was set in the World Championship in Korea last year.
After qualifying with the second best score of 586, Saurabh asserted his class in the final to claim his second World Cup gold this season, following the gold in the Delhi World Cup in February.
Saurabh had been forced to compete in the MQS section in the last World Cup in Beijing, as the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had wanted to maximise the chances of winning Olympic quotas. But, once Abhishek Verma captured the second Olympic quota in Beijing, Saurabh got back into the main team, as a country can only win a maximum of two Olympic quotas in an event.
Russia’s Artem Chernousov, who won a silver at the World Championship held last year, shot 243.8 to win the silver while former Olympic champion Pang Wei of China took the bronze.
Both Pang and his team mate Wu Jiayu, who finished 4th, won the two quotas on offer.
Former World No. 1 Shahzar Rizvi also made it to the final with a good score of 583 but finished 5th while Abhishek Verma, who won a gold and quota at the last World Cup in Beijing, shot 577 to finish 32nd in a field of 162 shooters.
The Results:
Women’s 25m Pistol: 1. Rahi Sarnobat (India) 37 (586); 2. Olena Kostevych (Ukraine) 36 (590); 3. Antoaneta Boneva (Bulgaria) 26 (587); 5. Manu Bhaker (India) 21 (585); 56. Chinki Yadav (India) 571. MQS: Yashaswini Singh Deswal (India) 577; Annu Raj Singh (India) 572.
Men’s 10m Air Pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary (India) 246.3 WR (586); 2. Artem Chernousov (Russia) 243.8 (589); 3. Pang Wei (China) 220.7 (582); 5. Shahzar Rizvi (India) 177.6 (583); 32. Abhishek Verma (India) 577. MQS: Om Prakash
Mitharval (India) 579; Arjun Singh Cheema (India) 575.
Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat's brilliant performance at Munich has brought yet another proud moment for the nation.
By winning gold in women's 25 M Pistol Event, this young performer has secured Tokyo Olympic Quota for India. Many congratulations!
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) May 27, 2019
Young guns continue to blaze at the @ISSF_Shooting Rifle & Pistol World Cup in Munich.
Many congratulations to our #TOPSAthlete #SaurabhChaudhary who has shot a ? in the men's 10m pistol event setting a world record in both Sr. & Jr. category with a score of 246.3. You're a ? pic.twitter.com/m8ch1cv3cA
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) May 27, 2019