Published On : Tue, Aug 21st, 2018

Teen shooting sensation Saurabh Chaudhary claims Asiad gold on debut

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Debutant teenager Saurabh Chaudhary clinched India’s first shooting gold of the 18th Asian Games, fetching the top honours in the men’s 10m air pistol event in Palembang today.

The 16-year-old Chaudhary, who topped the qualifying round, shot a Games record score of 240.7 to pip Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda (239.7) in an exciting final to add a gold to India’s shooting tally of two silver and a bronze this Asiad.

Hobby shooter Abhishek Verma, also making his Asian Games debut at 29, settled for the bronze medal in the same event with a score of 219.3.

In second position for most of the final, Chaudhary grabbed the lead after Matsuda fired 8.9 in his penultimate shot. The Indian went ahead with a 10.2 off his second-last shot and held the nerve to stay ahead.