Elavenil Valarivan
Shooting in the MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) section, the sensational Saurabh Chaudhary of India shot more than the tournament proper's topper in the men's 10m air pistol event of the European Championship here on Monday.
World Cup and Asian Games gold medallist Chaudhary shot 589 to top the chart in his event's MQS, while compatriot Abhishek Verma was fourth with 579.
The Tokyo Olympics-bound Chaudhary was way ahead of Ukraine's Oleh Omelchuk, who topped the main qualification with 586.
Both Chaudhary, a Youth Olympic gold medallist and his equally talented compatriot Verma, will be headed for Tokyo after their training-cum-competition stint in Croatia.
In the women's 10m air rifle, world number one Indian Elavenil Valarivan shot 630.4 to finish on top ahead of Iranians Armina Sadeghian (629.8) and Fatemeh Karamzadeh (628.7).
Apurvi Chandela was fourth with 627.8 while Anjum Moudgil was seventh with 624.7.
Ziva Dvorsak of Slovenia topped the main women's 10m air rifle qualification with 630.8 and she was followed by Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad (630.6) and Italian Sofia Ceccarello (630.2).
"Dusting off from Delhi WC score .. training in Hyderabad with gagunnarang has been productive with a 630.4 .. in Euro Champs," Elavenil tweeted after her event.
The talented Divyansh Singh Panwar (628.10) was second in the men's 10m air rifle qualification. The other Indians -- Deepak Kumar (627.4) and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (625.0) -- were third and fifth, respectively, in the event.
China's Lihao Sheng finished ahead of Divyansh, with 630.5.
Russia's Vladimir Maslennikov topped the main qualification with 631.8, with 627.1 being the cut.
As many as eight Olympic-bound Indian shooters, including some of the country's biggest medals hopes in Tokyo, were in action on Monday.
Participating in the continental tournament as guest invitee, the Indians only shot in the MQS section, and hence, their scores were considered for medals.
India's 13-member Olympic-bound squad arrived here from Croatian capital Zagreb on Saturday, which is the team's training base in the run-up to the Olympics.
The Indian shooters are taking part in the men's and women's individual Olympic events only.
A total of 15 Indian shooters have qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.
Skeet shooters Mairaj Khan and Angad Bajwa, who have also qualified for the Games, are training in Italy.
