PUNE: After a spell of below average form as per his standards, pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary came back to the old ways of winning. The multiple World Cup medallist added one more gold to his tally by clinching the men's 10m air pistol title at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo on Tuesday.
The World Cup is following the new format brought in practice by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
In the women's category, Esha Singh, 17, clinched silver after losing the gold medal round to Greece's Rio Olympics champion Anna Korakaki.
Saurabh qualified for the semifinals with a score of 584 and then shot 38 in the semifinal to enter the medal round, where he topped the four-shooter group with a score of 42.5 to enter the gold medal match. Russia's Artem Chernousov finished third (40 points) in this round to win bronze.
In the gold match, Saurabh defeated Germany's Michael Schwald 16-6.
ISSF removes Russia's name officially
Following the International Olympic Committee's instructions, the ISSF, headed by Russia's Vladimir Lisin, removed Russia's name from the medals tally. Russian shooters participating in the matches, and even the medallists, didn't have their country's name in front of them.
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and reigning World Champion Chernousov of Russia, who won bronze in the men's 10m air pistol event, was registered as an independent athlete in the World Cup.
Esha Singh in women's final
Esha, who trains at Gagan Narang's Gun For Glory academy in Hyderabad, clinched silver in the women's 10m air pistol event after losing in 16-6 to Korakaki in the gold medal round. Esha earlier topped the semifinal stage with a score of 41.5 and entered the medal round, where she was second with 35.5 points, while Korakaki shot 37. Earlier, in the semifinal, Esha finished first among four shooters, while Tokyo gold medallist Vitalina Batsarashkina got eliminated at fourth position.
The ISSF changed the individual match format from this year. As per the new format, top eight shooters in the qualifying stage (60 shots) make the cut for two semifinals. In the semifinals (four shooters each), top two shooters from each semifinal qualify for the medal round, as two bottom-placed shooters get eliminated after 10th and 15th shots respectively. In this round, the shooter with the highest single-shot score is awarded four points, while the others get three, two and one each respectively. Same process repeats in the medal round, as the fourth shooter gets eliminated after the 10th shot and the third gets bronze after the 15th shot.
In the gold medal match, both shooters shoot till one reaches 16 points. Highest shot gets 2 points, while both shooters get in case of equal score fired.
