It was a double pleasure for Suruchi Inder Singh as an Indian teenage shooter combined with Sarabh Chaudhary to win the gold medal of the mixed 10 m aerial pistol during the ISSF World Cup on Wednesday, adding to its triumph in individual competition.
The duo of Suruchi and Sarabh fired 17 to finish before Qianxun Yao and Kai Hu in China, who succeeded 9 years, in the gold medal match.
In the bronze medal competition, Manu Bhaker and Ravinder Singh of India (6) missed a podium after losing against the Chinese Pair of Qianke Ma and Yifan Zhang (16).
The duo of Suruchi and Sarabh made the gold medal match on the Las Palmas chain with a 580 qualifying combined, the former upgrading his partner more experienced by a few points. The Chinese pair of Yao Qianxun and Hu Ka exceeded the qualification with 585.
Suruchi-Saurabh produces superb performance to win gold
Also in the decision maker, the Chinese pair obtained a rush, heading for an advantage of 2-6 and 4-8, before a dead time called by coach Samaresh Jung approached the momentum of the match.
Suruchi has shot beautifully all along and twice, she missed 10 Ring, her Olympian partner of Tokyo composed of the high 10s, including a 10.9 for her first safe blow of the match.
The pair found their heads they had lost after the first series of simple shots, in the 10th series, going from the front 11-9 after an eighth series on a tie to level the scores at 9-9. They did not look back later and only needed the next three series to fill the victory while the Chinese first missed under pressure.
They did it in style too, ending with 10.6 (Suruchi) and 10.5 (Sarabh) with the two Chinese who did not reach 10 ring.
Earlier Tuesday, Suruchi produced a sterling book performance in the 10 m aerial pistol event to win his second consecutive gold from the ISSF World Cup, while the Paris Olympic Games medalist, Manu Bhaker, has bagted money to ensure the domination of India in the competition.
The future is now! 🇮🇳🥇
Inder Singh Suruchi lights up the World Cup.#Issf #Issfworldcup #Shootingports pic.twitter.com/qmsrac0ie5
– ISSF (@issf_official) April 16, 2025
Suruchi based in Jhajjar, 18, who had won his first golden world cup at the inaugural world event recently, raised 243.6 in the 24 shot final, to leave Manu 1.3 points behind it. The China’s Yao Qianxun took bronze.
The finish of the Suruchi and Manu podium noted that India has collected a medal of each color during the day, with the elite shooter of the 10 m male aerial pistol Saurabh Chaudhary winning a bronze.
The exploits of India in the female competition of air pistols of 10 million people in the Peruvian capital brought the country to the top of the ranking with three medals, followed by China, which won the gold of the male air pistol.
There were clear indications during the qualification round at 60 shots that the Indian duo would go comfortably in the final from a field of 28 people. Suruchi took second place with regulation 582, while Manu finished fourth with 578.
Sainyam, the third Indian of the fray, was 11th with 571.
Suruchi was at a different level in the final, continuing its superb form in recent months to quickly switch to the second row after the first series of five shots.
Yao had taken an early advance and Manu finished fourth with Julieta Jimenez from Uruguay, who pulled a good final, in third place at this stage.
After the second series of five strokes, Yao had compatriot Meng Yufei breathing his neck, just 0.1 behind, while Suruchi went down to Manu holding his fourth position.
The Indians, Suruchi, in particular, then entered their elements while Meng had a kind of collapse. A few highs 10 assured that after the 13th single blow, it was an Indian 1-2 with the Chinese falling from the top two.
Manu then had a few 9 to bottom for his 16th and 17th shots, which probably cost him gold at the end. Suruchi has become the most coherent shooter of the day.
Yao then had a good race and dethroned Julieta for bronze, but with the last two shots on the left, it was Suruchi who was ahead of Manu of 0.7 points.
The teenager marked better on the last two shots to beat the most experienced manu and extend a sensational series, which started with the Nationals in December of last year.
The Bhaker Olympic Games medalist congratulates Suruchi
Manu, winner of the female air gun and bronze medals of mixed team at the Paris Games, said that she was satisfied with the progress of the Indian shooters and also congratulated Suruchi for her second World Cup.
“I am happy to see more Indian shooters coming and very well, especially on the international scene. It makes me really happy and I think India is going in the right direction.
“We all know the name of Suruchi. She did exceptionally well in Buenos Aires (World Cup) as well as here. So I am really happy for her and I hope it continues for a long time. And, with young people, I hope I maintain the pace,” added Manu.
Suruchi had also won the 10m aerial pistol mixed team bronze with Sarabh in Buenos Aires.
