India assured of medal in 10m air pistol mixed team event, Manu-Saurabh to fight for gold

The Indian duo of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker will compete for gold, while Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal will fight for the bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup here on Saturday.

India was assured of at least a silver medal on day three of the competition as the duo of Chaudhary and Bhaker shot the second-best score (387) in the final qualification round of the 10m air pistol mixed team event to book a place in the gold medal clash.

They will battle it out with Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov in the gold medal match.

The second Indian team in the fray, comprising Verma and Deswal, is also in contention for winning a medal as the two finished third with a total of 386 in the final qualifying round, earning a spot in the bronze medal match against Golnoush Sebghatollahi and Javad Foroughi of Iran.

It was, however, a bad day in the office for the Indian rifle shooters competing in the 10m air mixed event.

Both teams failed to reach the final. While the pairing of Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar managed to reach the second qualification round, finishing sixth with a total of 416.1.

The duo of Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar failed to clear the first qualifying round. The pair finished a disappointing 15th for a total 624.6.

India has so far won two medals at the global event.

Chaudhary picked a bronze medal in men's 10m air pistol event on the opening day and the 10m air pistol women's team comprising, Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Rahi Sarnobat, claimed a bronze on day two.

The event is Indian shooting team's final competitive outing before the Tokyo Olympics.