Shooters Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Sanjeev Rajput win medals

India's gold medal winner Saurabh Chaudhary (left) and bronze medallist Abhishek Verma pose with their respective medals in Palembang;

The Indian shooting contingent's two extreme ends delivered the goods at Palembang yesterday. On one hand, the team's youngest member, Saurabh Chaudhary, 16, won gold in the 10m Air Pistol event, while at the other end of the spectrum, the oldest member of the small bore rifle team, veteran Sanjeev Rajput, 37, won silver in 50m Rifle 3 Position event. Just as their ages suggest extreme ends, both shooters were also at the extreme end of pressure yesterday.

While Chaudhary had absolutely no pressure on him considering this is his first Asian Games and maiden major senior international competition, Rajput was burdened with expectation given the huge reputation he had to defend. "In this shooting team, we have made it a conscious effort not to pressurise the youngsters because many of them are still teenagers. In fact, Saurabh is India's youngest ever Asian Games gold medallist in shooting. So, I'm sure he would have shot with a relaxed mind. However, Sanjeev is a World Cup gold medalist, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and multiple time Commonwealth Championships gold medalist, so had he lost here, he would have considered it to be a shame," National Rifle Association of India's (NRAI) Observer of rifle and pistol events, Ronak Pandit told mid-day here yesterday.

Sanjeev Rajput celebrates after clinching silver. Pics/AFP, PTI

Rajput rallied from an initial hiccup to score 452.7 points for his second spot, while the gold went to China's Hui Zicheng (453.3 points) and bronze went to Japan's Matsumoto Takayuki (441.4). However, Junior World Cup champion Saurabh's pistol breathed fire. He was up against 2010 World Champion Tomoyukin Matsuda of Japan and multiple Olympic and world champion Jin Jingoh of South Korea and senior compatriot Abhishek Verma among others, but it hardly mattered. He topped qualification with a score of 586 and then went on to clinch the gold with an aggregate of 240.7. Veteran Matsuda (42) settled for silver with 239.7 points while Verma took bronze with 219.3 points. It's no wonder then that Pandit felt such precocious talent must be cared for.

"Saurabh is a farmer's son [from Kalina village in Meerut] and began shooting just three years ago. This is his first big win so our time starts now. The junior coaches must now ensure that he prepares well for the bigger challenges ahead because henceforth he will also carry the baggage of pressure," added Pandit. India's only individual Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra could not agree more. "Superb show by young Saurabh. Many, many congratulations. We must pledge support to these young athletes for a sustained period of time irrespective of results. They have the ingredients for Olympic success. Needs persistent support irrespective," he wrote on Twitter yesterday. Touche!

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