Saurabh Chaudhary creates world record, wins gold in 10m air pistol in ISSF Shooting World Cup

Saurabh Chaudhary continued his golden run in shooting as he secured the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event in the ISSF Shooting World Cup at the Karni Singh stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. Chaudhary defeated Serbia's Damir Mikec with a world record score of 245.0 and he continued his golden run with yet another flawless display. The efforts of the youngster continued his brilliant run ever since he made waves in the 2018 Asian Games when he won the gold medal in the event in Jakarta. At the age of 16, Chaudhary became the first gold medal winner for India in the event and it was a meteoric rise for a young boy who loved farming. 

Chaudhary, who had held the world record with a gold medal haul in the junior event, secured a birth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with this world record display at a senior event. In the ISSF World Shooting Championships in 2018 in Changwon, Chaudhary had secured the gold medal in that event as well. However, much before his exploits in New Delhi and the Asian Games in Jakarta, Chaudhary was already a star in the world of shooting. 

RELATED

In the 2018 World Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Chaudhary won the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event and in the ISSF World Cup in Suhl, the youngster secured both the individual and mixed team air pistol junior events. Not only was his dominance in the world circuit complete, his exploits on the Asian stage earmarked him as a special talent. In the 2018 Asian Airgun Championship in Kuwait, Chaudhary won the gold medal in the individual and mixed teams event.

In the national trials that were held in New Delhi in December 2018, Chaudhary swept the 10m air pistol trials at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range by winning the second trial competitions in both the men’s and junior boy’s categories. Chaudhary had won the first trial in both events on Saturday as well and in one final shooting event way above the existing world record score. He won the men’s final with a relatively modest 243.3 score, leaving behind Punjab’s Arjun Singh Cheema, who shot 239.8 to emerge second.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in the World Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
• Chaudhary won the gold medal in the Asian Games 2018 at the age of 16.
• Chaudhary won the gold medal in the previous ISSF Shooting World Cup.