Divyansh Singh Panwar continued with his domination in the European circuit as he won the men’s air rifle gold with impressive scores of 252.1 in final and 632.4 in qualification, in the InterShoot international competition at the Hague in the Netherlands on Thursday.
Divyansh won the final with a 1.2 point margin over Alexis Raynaud of France, while compatriot Pratik Borse climbed to the third spot.
Asian Games silver medallist Deepak Kumar, who has won the Olympic quota in air rifle like Divyansh, shot 628.4 in qualification and placed fifth subsequently.
Saurabh Chaudhary who had won six gold medals in the World Cups last season, including two individually, was a class act yet again, winning the air pistol event with a total of 243.3. He outclassed Tiago Carapinha of Portugal by seven points.
In the qualification stage, however, Saurabh was overtaken to the top spot by Nikhil Kumar who shot 586, but eventually placed seventh.
There was another gold for India, as the Youth Olympics silver medallist Shahu Tushar Mane won the junior men’s air rifle with 251.9, after topping qualification with 626.0. Compatriot Sanskar Havelia who shot the second best score of 624.1 in qualification, placed third in the final.
The Indian shooters will continue to shoot in more competitions in the Inershoot which is a prestigious annual meet, that attracts some of the best shooters from around the world.
The results: 10m air pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaudhary 243.3 (585); 2. Tiago Carapinha (Por) 236.3 (573); 3. Kristian Callaghan (GBR) 215.2 (570); 7. Nikhil Kumar 135.4 (586).
10m air rifle: 1. Divyansh Singh Panwar 252.1 (632.4); 2. Alexis Reynaud (Fra) 250.9 (628.9); 3. Pratik Borse 229.6 (626.2); 5. Deepak Kumar 185.7 (628.4).
Junior men: 1. Shahu Tushar Mane 251.9 (626.0); 2. Martin Voss (Nor) 244.6 (609.0); 3. Sanskar Havelia 222.6 (624.1).