Inspired by Saurabh, Varun wins quota

UP shooter, Esha win gold medals in ongoing Asian meet to earn Olympic berths for India

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SAURABH CHAUDHARY, arguably India’s best shooter in the last Olympic cycle, is a forgotten man with the Paris Olympics on the horizon. However, India could potentially have someone that resembles him in the form of Varun Tomar, who is the former World No 1’s cousin. It was Saurabh who had influenced Varun to take up the pistol in 2016. Barely six years later, he has a solid chance of emulating his cousin after securing an Olympic berth for India in the ongoing Asian Championships in Jakarta, on Monday.

After topping the men’s 10m air pistol qualification phase with an impressive tally of 586, Varun retained his nerves in the early stages of the finals to finish as topper with a score of 239.6, thereby earning the allimportant quota for India. Just hours later, Esha Singh won another quota by winning the women’s equivalent. This means India now have a total of 15 quotas so far, matching the tally from Tokyo 2020.