Asiad Champion Saurabh Wins Junior World C’ship, Breaks Record

The 16-year-old broke the junior world record with a total score of 245.5.

Saurabh Chaudhary (centre) had won the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Final at the recently concluded Asian Games.

(Photo: AP)

• Asian Games gold medallist Saurabh Chaudhary won the 10m Air Pistol Junior Men gold at the 52nd ISSF Shooting World Championship.
  
• Saurabh overtook the junior world record with a total score of 245.5.
  
• India’s Arjun Singh Cheema clinched the bronze with a score of 218.
  

Asian Games gold medallist Saurabh Chaudhary broke the junior world record to bag the 10m Air Pistol Junior Men gold at the 52nd ISSF Shooting World Championship in Changwon on Thursday.

The 16-year-old qualified for the finals in the third position with a score of 581. In the the final series of shots, which would have decided the gold medallist, Saurabh went with an over 3 point lead against Korea’s Hojin Lim. Despite missing a 10 on his final shot he comfortably overtook the junior world record with a total score of 245.5.

India’s Arjun Singh Cheema clinched the bronze with a score of 218 after qualifying for the final in sixth place with score of 577.

In the final, Chaudhary grabbed the lead after the second series of five shots and never conceded the advantage thereafter. It looked like India could win both the gold and silver when Cheema took the second spot after the second elimination round after the next two. But shots of 8.3 and 9.4 in the fifth elimination series saw him slip to third and though it assured him a medal, Lim responded with two 10.9s to shut out any hope of a fightback from the Indian.