Sarabjot Singh of India claimed the men’s air pistol gold medal in the ISSF Pistol/Rifle World Cup here on Wednesday, opening the host country’s medal tally.Varun Tomar, a teenage shooter, also won bronze, making it a double joy for India.
Sarabjot, the 2021 junior world winner in both the team and mixed team categories, defeated Azerbaijan’s Ruslan Lunev 16-0 in the World Cup’s first final.Sarabjot, 21, was in outstanding form throughout the qualifying round, finishing first with 585 points.
Sarabjot was consistently hitting the target, with scores of 98, 97, 99, 97, 97, 97 in the six qualification series indicating he would be difficult to defeat.Liu Jinyao of China came in second with 584 points.
Jason Solari (Switzerland, 583 points), Vladimir Svechinko (Uzbekistan, 582 points), Frederik Larsen (Denmark, 580 points), Zhang Jie (China, 580 points), Ruslan Lunev (Azerbaijan, 579) and Varun Tomar (India, 579) rounded out the roster of eight shooters who advanced to the ranking round.
Sarabjot continued to shine in the ranking, or elimination round, while Varun, 19, started his superb recovery after qualifying eighth and last.
Sarabjot (253.2 points) and Ruslan (251.9 points) finished first and second in the ranking round, respectively, and both started the gold-medal round with confidence, while Varun (250.3 points) had to settle for bronze.
The Azerbaijan shooter, however, was no match for Sarabjot in the fight for the top podium spot.
Sarabjot was absolutely unstoppable in the gold-medal match, winning 16-0.
