Saurabh Chaudhary registered a score of 591 – a National Record and just two short of the World Record – en route to making his first appearance in the National Shooting Championships final since 2021.read more
Saurabh Chaudhary made a roaring comeback after going through an extended slump by firing his way into the National Shooting Championships in New Delhi. And what established the fact that he looks sharper than ever with a pistol in hand is the fact that he registered a score of 591 (99, 97, 99, 99, 98 and 99) – his best ever as well as the National Record and just two short of the world record – en route to the final of the men’s 10m air pistol competition at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in the national capital. It was the first time since 2021 that he made it to the final of the National Championships.
Chaudhary was once seen as a strong prospect for an Olympic medal, especially when he was winning medals for fun between 2018 to 2021 in the build-up to the Tokyo Olympics. The 22-year-old, who hails from the village of Kalina near Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh, had won nearly a dozen gold medals during this period, most of them across various ISSF World Cups and had even become the youngest gold medalist in Asian Games history in Jakarta in 2018.
Chaudhary, however, failed to meet expectations at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where he finished fifth in the men’s 10m air pistol final after topping the qualification and seventh in the mixed-team event with Manu Bhaker.
Why Chaudhary’s roaring comeback is good news for Indian shooting
India had not won a shooting medal at the Olympics for more than a decade until Bhaker, who had suffered a heartbreak in Tokyo, made history in Paris by winning two bronze medals in three events — in the women’s 10m air pistol event as well as in the mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh.
And with Chaudhary regaining his form, albeit months after the Paris Games, things are bound to get better for Indian shooting in the coming months. Chaudhary appears to have regained the old confidence that he had been missing for more than a couple of years now, but there will be little stopping him from winning another Asiad gold next year and standing on the Olympic podium in Los Angeles in 2028 if he is able to maintain this form for an extended period of time.
“It is not about the scores but the confidence with which you execute your shots that matters. I felt like finally I was getting that confidence back when I made the national record in qualification. It takes a long time to understand which areas you are lacking, even if it is right in front of your eyes,” Chaudhary told Hindustan Times after finishing fifth in the Nationals on Sunday.
With Bhaker emerging as India’s latest shooting superstar and the likes of Swapnil Kusale and Sarabjot also winning medals at the Olympics, Chaudhary’s return to form could signal the beginning of a golden period for Indian shooting.