Saurabh, Manu Combine to Shoot Gold in Mixed Event

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) India's Saurabh Chaudhary displayed the composure that characterises his shooting and partner Manu Bhakar regained her touch to win in style the 10m air pistol mixed team gold in the ISSF World Cup here Wednesday.

The Indian pair shot a total of 483.4 to finish top of the podium, helping the hosts finish the tournament with a flourish after a few results that did not go their way over the last three days.

The Chinese duo of Ranxin Jiang and Bowen Zhang won silver with 477.7, while the bronze went to the Korean team of Minjung Kim and Daehun Park (418.8) at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Such was the Indian duo's dominance through the final that the difference between gold and silver medallist at the end was a hopping at the end was 5.8.

Having entered the final after equalling the qualification world record, Saurabh and Manu continued in the same vein and once they moved to the top spot, there was no looking back as they consistently shot high and mid 10.

The other Indian team in the fray, Heena Sidhu and Abhishek Verma, could not clear the qualification hurdle after aggregating 770.

The Indian shooters in 10m air rifle mixed team event – Ravi Kumar and Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela and Deepak Kumar finished seventh and 25th respectively.

But Manu and Saurbah, with their superlative showings, ensured the host nation ended the tournament on a high.

India jointly topped the standings with Hungary with three gold medals, but managed to secure only one Olympic quota. The tournament offered 14 quota places for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

After a mixed start to the last final of the tournament, the Indians gathered momentum with Manu complementing Saurabh who had three shots above 10 in the first series.

Manu had a few 10 and above scores in the second series and with Saurabh in red-hot form, India inched closer to the Korean team before eventually replacing them from the top spot.

The Indian Youth Olympics champions took the lead after the third series and maintained it till the last shot, as China moved up to second position.

"It was satisfying to end on a winning note," said Manu, could not secure quota after disappointments in her individual events.

Saurabh, who was supported from behind by his childhood coach Amit Sheoran, said he was pumped by his presence.

Earlier in the tournament, Apurvi Chandela set a new world record with 252.9 points on her way to her third individual World Cup medal in the women's 10m air rifle event on Saturday.

Saurabh had also shattered the world record on the second day of the tournament, scoring 245.0 to finish top in the 10m air pistol event while securing an Olympic quota.

China won a maximum of five quotas followed by Hungary with two. Hosts India, Austria, Serbia, Italy, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Switzerland won one quota place each.

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