Kuwait City: India’s teenage shooting sensation Saurabh Chaudhary continued his incredible run by claiming his fourth individual gold medal in as many months with a top finish in the 10m air pistol junior men’s event of the Asian Airgun Championship here Thursday.
The 16-year-old, son of a farmer based in Meerut, first combined with compatriots Arjun Singh Cheema and Anmol Jain to log a total of 1731 to win the team gold and fetched the individual gold with 239.8 in the eight-man individual final to finish with two gold medals.
Saurabh won the gold medal at the Asian Games in August, besides bagging golds at the World Shooting Championships in September and the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina last month.
Arjun (237.7) secured the silver medal after finishing second, while Chinese Taipei’s Huang Wei-Te clinched the bronze with a score of 218.0 to deny India a clean sweep. Anmol finished fourth with a score of 195.1. The Indian trio missed the World and Asian Junior record by a mere point.
Earlier, the Indians dominated the qualifying stages with Arjun topping the standings with a score of 578 after 60 shots. Anmol was second with 577 while Saurabh was placed third with a score of 576 and all three made it to the eight-man final.
This takes India’s tally in the ongoing event to 10 medals, including three gold, five silver and two bronze medals. Manu Bhaker and Abhidnya Patil are also slated to feature in the junior women’s 10m air pistol final later in the day.
