Teenager Varun Tomar bags maiden World Cup shooting medal

PUNE: Nineteen-year-old Varun Tomar maintained a proud family tradition when he won his maiden World Cup shooting medal in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.
Varun, a first cousin of multiple World Cup gold-winner Saurabh Chaudhary, edged out compatriot Sarabjot Singh to bag the men's 10m air pistol bronze.
The teenage marksman shot 583 to qualify for the ranking round, where he scored 250.6 for a tie with Sarabjot for the third place.In the ensuing shoot-off, Varun shot 10.3 and Sarabjot 10.1.
Slovakia's Juraj Tuzinsky beat Italy's Paolo Monna 17-15 for gold.
Meanwhile, Indian women failed to win a medal in the corresponding event. Manu Bhaker, who turned 21 on Saturday, was the best Indian after finishing fifth. Divya TS was seventh.
Varun started shooting five years ago, inspired by Saurabh's exploits. And his medal would have come as a fitting tribute to Saurabh who has five World Cup medals - including two gold - in the discipline.
"I was introduced to shooting only by Saurabh bhaiya. He used to train in Baghpat and later in the Indian team. I used to watch him during training and wanted to shoot myself," Varun told TOI.
Saurabh ruled the air pistol on the world stage and improved the world record multiple times until losing form and his place in the India team last year.
"It was a good feeling when I won the medal. Bhaiya has been an inspiration for me. He continuously guides me and trains me when we are together. He was the reason I took 10m air pistol as my event and not any other event," said Varun, who had won a junior World Championships bronze last year.
Varun's father, who is a school teacher, said his son's success had been possible only because of Saurabh.
"Saurabh has set the bar so high that anything below a World Cup medal is not enough. Varun has seen Saurabh work hard and tries to emulate his brother. We all are happy that he won his first medal today," the proud father said.