Wroclaw (Poland): India’s Saurabh Chaudhary won silver and Abhishek Verma bronze in a star-studded men’s 10m air pistol final, on Day Three of the ongoing ISSF Presidents Cup Rifle/Pistol here.
The Indian duo was able to get the better of reigning Olympic champion in the event, Javad Foroughi of Iran in the four-man final, but not 2016 Rio Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany, who won gold.
Christian dominated the final, finishing with a score of 34 with Saurabh quite some distance behind with 24. Abhishek went out in bronze-medal position after the second series of five shots with a score of 21. Javad was first to be eliminated in fourth place after the first five-shot series. The final consisted of three series of five-shots each.
Saurabh Chaudhary had also finished second to Christian in the first semifinal 24-25, to make the final. Abhishek had won the second semifinal over Javad 27-24 to make the medal round.
The Indians had earlier made the top eight by finishing third and fourth respectively among 12 shooters in the first qualification round, with Saurabh shooting 581 and Abhishek shooting 580.
The inaugural ISSF President’s Cup is a rechristened version of the ISSF World Cup Finals, where the year’s top 12 athletes according to world ranking are invited to determine the best individual athletes of the year in the respective Olympic events. Individual winners will be awarded ‘The Golden Target’ along with prize money. Cash awards will also be awarded to all athletes in the individual competitions.
