Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma went through contrasting times in the men's 10m air pistol qualifying round on Saturday (July 23).
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Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma went through contrasting times in the men’s 10m air pistol qualifying round on Saturday (July 23). The 19-year-old Chaudhary finished atop the standings to easily make it through to the finals in the Tokyo Olympics. However, Verma just about missed out on a spot in the final. Verma started more slowly of the two Indian shooters. Yet by the time the fifth series came about, Verma was back in the top eight. However he failed to build on the momentum and lost out on a final spot. (Tokyo 2020 full coverage)
The same cannot be said of Chaudhary, who started slightly slow but found his rhythm as time went on. He even managed a perfect 100 in the fourth series.
He then scored 98 and 97 in the final two series’ to all but guarantee his spot in the final. Once the results were official, it was a massive deal for Chaudhary – who managed to top the standings.
Of course qualification counts for nothing in the final. But the fact that the young Indian managed to out-shoot some top-class opposition will do wonders for his confidence.
His showing was a stark contrast to the women’s 10m air rifle event held earlier in the day.
The qualification round of the women’s 10m air rifle event kicked off the day of sporting action. However, neither Apurvi Chandela nor Elavenil Valarivan were able to book a spot in the final.
Valarivan finished 16th in the qualifiers whereas Chandela finished a lowly 36th. Only the top 8 of the 50 competitors would qualify for the final, with neither of the Indians coming close.
Valarivan looked likely to make a late surge towards the top 8 at one point but it wasn’t to be. In the end, she missed out on the 8th by 2 points.
Chandela, on the other hand, never got going. She is never the fastest out of the blocks in qualifying, meaning she had completed less rounds early on.
However, even when her rounds began to catch up her scores looked unlikely to threaten the top 8. In the end, she finished more than 7 points adrift.
The Tokyo Olympics, which was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is now up and running. The Games have not been without their share of controversies, however.
The event is happening despite plenty of protests from the Japanese people against it. And the angst is not without reason. Tokyo is currently in a state of emergency due to a rise in COVID cases.
The Games will by and large be played out in the absence of fans, always a major psychological blow to athletes. There’s also been a number of cases reported in the Olympic village itself.
Nevertheless, the Games remain an event that many around the world will be keen to watch. From July 23 to August 8, many will be hooked onto their televisions to follow the events.
