Osijek (Croatia), Jun 26: Continuing their impressive run, the Indian duo of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker clinched the silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup here on Saturday.
Already assured of a silver, the Indian duo was on par with Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov at 12-12 before losing the last two series to go down 12-16.
Representing the other Indian team in the same event, Yashaswini Singh Deswal and Abhishek Verma missed out on a bronze medal.
Deswal and Verma, who qualified in the third place, were completely outplayed by Iran's Golnoush Sebghatollahi and Javad Foroughi, losing 7-17 in the bronze play-off.
It was a bad day in the office for the Indian rifle shooters, competing in the 10m air mixed event.
Both teams failed to reach the final. The pairing of Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Singh Panwar managed to reach the second qualification round, finishing sixth with a total of 416.1.
The duo of Anjum Moudgil and Deepak Kumar failed to clear the first qualifying round. They finished a disappointing 15th with a total 624.6.
Chaudhary and Bhaker's silver takes India's medal count to three. Both shooters have already won a bronze each.
While Chaudhary had picked a bronze medal in men's 10m air pistol on the opening day, Bhaker alongside Deswal and Rahi Sarnobat had won the bronze in the 10m air pistol women's team event.
Russia currently leads the medal tally with three golds as many silver and one bronze.
The event is Indian shooting team's final competitive outing before the Tokyo Olympics.
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Bengaluru (PTI): Criticising the caste census report tabled before the Karnataka Cabinet, Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday questioned whether it was a caste census or a census of hatred.
In a statement, Kumaraswamy, who holds steel and heavy industries portfolio, sought to know the population of Vokkaliga, the dominant agrarian community, which he belongs to.
“What is it really — a caste census or a census of hate? Is this so-called census a conspiracy designed to deliberately provoke unrest in the state? Or is it merely a diversionary tactic to deflect attention from the embarrassment caused by relentless price hikes and a series of corruption scandals?” the Minister questioned.
He further said, “If the entire state ends up engulfed in the flames of caste divisions, is this move by the Congress government in Karnataka a premeditated attempt to politically and socially marginalize certain communities?”
Expressing concerns over the leaked caste census report, Kumaraswamy said the ‘so-called statistics’ from this report are now floating everywhere. Some unknown hand has systematically leaked them into the public domain, he alleged.
The Minister sought to the know the actual population of the Vokkaliga community residing across the Old Mysuru region such as Mandya, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara, Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru, and Chitradurga.
He also took a jibe at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar for taking a U-turn on the caste census, despite having previously opposed it.
“Sleepless in his pursuit of the Chief Minister’s chair, he (Shivakumar) once begged the community saying, ‘Just give me a pen and paper once!’ And now, is that same man bowing his head and endorsing the Siddha Conspiracy Report?" Kumaraswamy said.
Siddha is apparently referred to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“I do not support this report. I am fully prepared to fight against this injustice,” the Minister added.
The Socio-Economic and Educational Survey, caste census in short, was presented before the Karnataka cabinet on April 11.
The report was commissioned by Siddaramaiah during his first term as Chief Minister in 2015. H Kantharaj had initially started the work which was carried forward by former Minister K Jayaprakash. The report was submitted to the Chief Minister in February 2024.
The Chief Minister said there would be a detailed discussion on the report in a special cabinet meeting on April 17.