(R) Saurabh Chaudhary wins Gold, (L) Abhishek Verma clinches Bronze in Men's 10m Air Rifle Shooting
Young Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary on Tuesday won the Gold medal while his compatriot Abhishek Verma clinched the Bronze medal in Men's 10m Air Rifle Shooting in the ongoing 18th Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia.
The 16-year-old Chaudhary from Meerut, who began shooting as recently in 2015, held his nerves to defeat Japan's Tomoyuki Matsuda in the final two shots to clinch the gold medal.
After the final shot, Chaudhary bagged a total score of 240.7, which is a new Games record.
Matsuda finished a point below at 239.7.
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Verma from Hisar, who took up the sport as a hobby managed a final score of 219.3 to finish third and return home with a bronze medal.
Matsuda, 42, was leading the charge going into the ninth and final series having led after each of the series. But in the final series, he came up with first shot score of 8.9 to blow his chances as Saurabh overtook him with a 10.2 in his first shot of the series.
In the second shot of the series, Matsuda scored 10.3 but Saurabh did well with 10.4 to seal the title.
At the beginning, Saurabh, who topped the qualifications after a score of 586, began his finals with a 50.6 in the opening five-shot series. In the second five-shot series, he scored 50.8 to take his total to 101.4, while Matsuda had 103.3 in total at this point of time.
In the third series, a two-shot round, Saurabh scored 18.6. He then produced scores of 19.4, 20.0, 20.6, 20.2 to have a total of 200.2 at the end of seven series when Matsuda and Saurabh totalled 201.3 and 199.7 respectively as the top three places were determined.
In the eighth series, Saurabh, Matsuda and Abhishek got scores of 19.9, 19.2 and 19.6 as the latter was eliminated.
The drama unfolded in the final series, with Matsuda coming up with his worst shot of the entire final round to give the advantage to Saurabh, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath announces Rs 50 lakh reward for Saurabh Chaudhary
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh for Meerut resident Saurabh Chaudhary.
An official spokesman said Adityanath also declared that Chaudhary will be given the post of a gazetted officer in the state government.
Adityanath congratulated Chaudhary for the feat which has brought laurels to the state of Uttar Pradesh.
