Tokyo, Jul 24 (UNI) Despite a stupendous performance in the qualifying round, Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary ended at the seventh place in the men’s 10m air pistol's final event at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
In the final match at the Asaka Shooting Range, the Indian archer began with a slow start shooting only 96.8 after the first 10 shots that severely affected his medal chances.
At the first elimination stage that also was a tie-break, Chaudhary shot 10.2, enough to progress past South Korea’s Kim Mose, who ended last.
In what was then effectively a shoot-out for sixth place, Saurabh shot 10.6 and 9.8 to end with a score of 137.4. However, his competitor Bowen Zhang of China took his total to 137.7, which pushed Saurabh Chaudhary to a seventh-place finish.
During the qualifying rounds Chaudhary topped with a score of 586 in his 60 shots. Another Indian shooter Abhishek Verma missed out on a final spot after ending at 17th position with a total of 575.
Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma will be in action next in the mixed team air pistol event. Chaudhary is most likely to partner Manu Bhaker while Abhishek Verma is expected to team up with Yashaswini Singh Deswal.
The mixed team 10m air pistol event will take place on Monday, July 26.
Earlier in the day, Indian women shooters Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failed to make the cut for the women’s 10m air rifle finals at the Tokyo Olympics.
World No 1 Elavenil scored 626.5 with her 60 shots in the qualifying round to finish 16th in the 50-woman field while Apurvi ’s score of 621.9, meanwhile, was only enough to secure her the 36th position.
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