Manu Bhaker-Saurabh Chaudhary disappoint in 10m Air Pistol Team event, fail to make finals

Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker failed to qualify for the medal rounds in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after topping the Qualification Stage 1 in Tokyo on Tuesday. Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Deswal’s campaign ended early. The duo finished seventh in Qualification 2 after topping the first phase with 582 at the Asaka Range. They lost the plot after that when the top eight teams battled it out in the second phase.

Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker raised hopes by finishing as the No. 1 pair at the end of the Qualification Stage 1 of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Event. The duo had won 5 World Cup gold medals and their only Silver at a World Cup came in Osijek in June 2021. The two were billed as one of the firm favorites for the event and they lived up to the billing in Qualification Stage 1.

Things took a turn for the worst in the second phase as the Indians got off to a horrid start with Bhaker shooting a poor 92 in her first series to go with a 94 in the second. By his standards, Chaudhary was not great either in the first series as he shot 96, but he came back strongly to record 98 in his second series. Chaudhary and Bhaker were languishing at the bottom of the table after the first series.

However, Manu Bhaker came up with a disappointing performance in Qualification Stage 2 even as Saurabh continued the good work. The highly-rated pair finished 7th out of 8 shooters and failed to make the medal matches. Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal, meanwhile, faltered in the opening series with 187/200 (Abhishek 92 and Yashaswini 95). The two tried to mount a comeback but 189 in series 2 and 188 in series 3 was only enough for a 17th place finish.