Saurabh Choudhary of Uttar Pradesh claimed gold — in a nail biting finish that went down to the final shot — in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol at the 1st Khelo India School Games in New Delhi.
Saurabh, who has qualified for the Youth Olympics later this year, lost all his lead in a nerve-wracking final and allowed Vijayveer Sidhu of Chandigarh to tie the scores at 230.1 after 23 shots. However, Saurabh held on to his nerves to shoot a 10.0 while Vijayveer could only manage a 9.7 to settle for the silver.
The bronze was won by Arjun Cheema of Punjab with a score of 217.3.
Earlier in the qualification, Saurabh had shot a very impressive qualification score of 585 to set a new national record.
Saurabh had won a youth gold in air pistol at the 10th Asian Airgun Championship held in Wako City, Japan, last year.
The Results:
Men’s 10m Air Pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 240.1 (585); 2. Vijayveer Sidhu (Chandigarh) 239.8 (565); 3. Arjun Cheema (Punjab) 217.3 (574).
