CHENNAI: Saurabh Chaudhary did what he does best. Living up to his billing, the pistol shooter showed his mettle to ace the qualification hurdle (men's 10m air pistol) and get one step closer to the coveted Olympic medal.
Only four shooters — Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2004, Athens), Abhinav Bindra (2008, Beijing), Gagan Narang (2012, London) and Vijay Kumar (2012, London) — have achieved that rare feat for the country in the history of Olympic Games.
After rifle shooters — Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela — missed out earlier in the day, the onus was on Saurabh and Abhishek Verma to step up and bring some joy to the Indian fans.
And Saurabh did just that. What's more, the 19-year-old did it in style, topping the qualification stage with a tally of 586. However, Abhishek failed to achieve the target after a late collapse.
For someone who's used to fast starts, Saurabh took his time to settle down find his rhythm. After opening with 95 in Stage 1 of the 60-shot qualifiers, the shooter from a nondescript village in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district shot 98 each in the next two series.
In the fifth series, he went full tilt to return with a maximum score of 100 (a perfect score, especially in big events, is quite uncommon). That lifted him to the top spot and following that, he never looked back.
Abhishek, on the other hand, also took his time and was trailing far behind at the early stages. The lawyer-turned-shooter did well to recover during the middle stages and it looked like he'll be alongside Saurabh in the eight-man final.
However, in the final series, he collapsed big time to eventually settle for 575, which is well beyond the qualifying standard at the elite level. The shooter, who occupied the final qualifying spot, had a tally of 578.
That means India's hopes rest on the young shoulders of Saurabh in the final. The job is half-done, he'll be determined to keep up the momentum and etch his name in the history books.
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