Osijek (Croatia) May 26

Led by the sensational Saurabh Chaudhary, India’s Olympics-bound shooters produced a stellar show in the mixed air pistol and air rifle events of the European Championships here today.

Participating in the Minimum Qualifying Section (MQS) section as guest invitees, Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar began the day by shooting a combined score of 630.6 in the first qualifying round. They finished second overall among 51 pairs, five of which were shooting in the MQS section. If they were part of the main event, the pair would have sailed through to the next stage where only the top-eight make it. The Norwegian duo of Jeanette Duestad and Henrik Larsen topped the stage with a European record score of 632.0.

Then, in the 10m air pistol mixed team competitions, India’s top pair comprising Manu Bhaker and Chaudhary came overall second among 43 pairs, shooting a combined score of 580 out of a possible 600. They finished behind the table-topping Russian pair of Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov. Chaudhary was way ahead of almost the entire field shooting a stunning 294 out of 300.

The second Indian pair in the mixed team rifle event, comprising Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar, shot a total of 622.2 to finish 38th overall and third among five pairs in the MQS section. — PTI