Saurabh Chaudhary – India’s Best Medal Hope at the Olympics
Saurabh Chaudhary stands as India’s top medal hope at the Olympics, often qualifying for finals in major events and being an intense competitor.
At New Delhi in 2019, he won the 10 m air pistol final against Mikec Damir, Christian Reitz, Zhang Bowen and Wei Pang – outscoring world No.1 Javad Foroughi from Iran as well.
1. Saurabh Chaudhary
Saurabh Chaudhary was India’s primary medal hope in shooting at the Tokyo Olympics and won India’s 10m air pistol qualification with an outstanding performance, but then faltered in the final and finished in seventh place.
Chaudhary found his Olympic experience to be particularly draining; he found it hard to deal with his fortunes reversal at Tokyo and suffered through an extended period of mental inertia that prevented him from even qualifying for national teams.
Meerut shooter Ashish Dhawan has evolved considerably as an individual over time and now feels confident stepping onto a larger stage like Tokyo Olympic Games. Already, he boasts eight World Cup gold medals to his name and will attempt to add even more medals at Tokyo.
2. Manu Bhaker
Shooting can be a solitary sport, even for elite shooters like Manu Bhaker who found herself competing at her first Olympics and experiencing heartbreak there.
At 19, she was India’s highest medal hope at these Olympic Games; however, due to a malfunction in the 10m air pistol final at her second event at these Games she was disqualified and out of contention.
Manu, as all shooters do, has plenty of time to learn from her Olympic debut mistakes. It is part of becoming a successful athlete.
3. Abhishek Verma
The Olympics provide hosts and participants with an opportunity to foster national identity by using sports for political, economic, and cultural gain (Dubinsky 2019b). They are one of the earliest examples of nation branding and public diplomacy worldwide.
Verma is a Btech Computer Science graduate who started shooting as a hobby in 2014 before enrolling at Eklavya Sports Shooting Academy to take it more seriously. After winning a silver medal at Kerala Shooting Nationals he secured higher rankings nationwide and more trials calls.
He has been training under NRAI high-performance director Pierre Beauchamp ahead of Olympic qualifying tournaments for 10m air pistol, hoping to secure an Olympic berth for India.
4. Yashaswini Deswal
Yashaswini Deswal, from India, has quickly made her mark as a pistol shooter. After beginning shooting practice in 2012 and winning her first gold medal at school nationals the same year, Yashaswini made headlines throughout her shooting sport career.
Deswal won gold at the 2019 ISSF World Cup for 10 m air pistol and qualified for Tokyo Olympics via her reserve quota. Her score almost reached her junior world record mark to defeat Olena Kostevych of Ukraine and claim top honors.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is an enjoyable party game with easy pick-up and play. However, its inconsistent controls and difficulty curve diminish replay value significantly.
5. Divyansh Singh Panwar
Three years ago, Divyansh Chaudhary arrived at the Tokyo Olympic Games as long-haired World No. 1, World Record Holder and medal hopeful. But instead he left without even one medal to show for himself, taking time and persistence to return to prominence again.
He placed seventh in the 10m air pistol final with an uninspiring score of 96.8 after 10 shots in this 24-shot final.
But since his return, he has been back to form and could be among India’s best shooters at this week’s Grenada World Cup in Grenada. Unlike some of his peers, 21-year-old Manjul is an athlete with dedication and discipline – beginning each day with rigorous physical training before heading straight for the range at 9AM.
6. Elavenil Valarivan
Elavenil Valarivan was expected to carry her nation’s gold medal hopes into Tokyo, but unfortunately could not live up to them in the women’s 10m air rifle final. While she started off strong by scoring 104.3 on her opening series, she eventually lost momentum and placed 16th.
Elavenil was given her Olympic quota due to Anjum Moudgil’s poor qualifying run for Paris and she hopes to redeem herself here. But Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad won her qualification round with an Olympic qualification record score of 632.9, leaving Elavenil needing to do better to make the cut.