He was at his first senior event, but showed no sign of nerves.
16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary has become an Indian sensation and a top trend on social media after winning gold at the 10m air pistol event at the Asian Games this morning.
Setting an Asian Games record, Chaudhary also beat World Champion, Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda who won the silver medal.
On Twitter, #SaurabhChaudhary became the top trend in India, as politicians, sports stars and other social media users congratulated the young shooter on winning the third gold for India at the event this year.
Vijay Kumar Singh, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs tweeted: “C’mon #India let us congratulate the #BoyWonder of the #Indian contingent at the #AsianGames2018: Saurabh Chaudhary, who has just grabbed India’s third gold medal. #SaurabhChaudhary epitomises the youth of our country, their aspirations & their determination. #JaiHind”
C’mon #India let us congratulate the #BoyWonder of the #Indian contingent at the #AsianGames2018 : Saurabh Chaudhary, who has just grabbed India’s third 🥇. #SaurabhChaudhary epitomizes the youth of our country, their aspirations & their determination. #JaiHind pic.twitter.com/GT9thR35Es
— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) August 21, 2018
The son of a farmer from Meerut, Chaudhary was participating in his first senior event, having already broken the world record at the Junior World Cup earlier this year, according to news agency ANI.
Cricketer Harbhajan Singh tweeted: “What a star! 16 years of age, and he’s won a gold for the country! Congratulations Saurabh Chaudhary for winning the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Men, at the #AsianGames2018”
India’s Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports and Olympic medalist Rajyavardhan Rathore also congratulated Chaudhary on social media, tweeting: “16 years. Very first Asian Games. AND A MEDAL. The INCREDIBLY talented #SaurabhChaudhary has truly arrived! WELL DONE, young man! Proud of you! #AsianGames2018 #IndiaAtAsianGames”
16 years. Very first Asian Games. AND A 🥇 MEDAL.
— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) August 21, 2018
The INCREDIBLY talented #SaurabhChaudhary has truly arrived! WELL DONE, young man! Proud of you! #AsianGames2018 #IndiaAtAsianGames pic.twitter.com/JTyBz1QgiG
Social media users also couldn’t hold back their excitement as India also won the bronze medal at the same event, with shooter Abhishek Verma coming in third.
Tweep @mssirsa posted a picture of the winners of the event and wrote: “Do you see the boy in center wearing Indian colours? He just won a #GoldMedal in 10m Air Pistol event creating an Asian Games record And he is just 16 years old!! Imagine how many more medals he will fetch for India in years to come. Kudos to #SaurabhChaudhary #AsianGames”
Do you see the boy in center wearing Indian colours 😊
— Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) August 21, 2018
He just won a #GoldMedal in 10m Air Pistol event creating an Asian Games record
And he is just 16 years old!!
Imagine how many more medals he will fetch for India in years to come. Kudos to #SaurabhChaudhary #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/S6xlAcs2dm
Another tweep, @SwamiGeetika, wrote: “16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10m air pistol gold, Abhishek Verma bags bronze. Another record is that this is the first time there have been two shooters bagging medals in the same pistol event for India at Asiad! Congrats India’s newest shooting stars #SaurabhChaudhary”
16 year old Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10m air pistol gold, Abhishek Verma bags bronze. Another record is that this is the 1st time there have been two shooters bagging medals in the same pistol event for India at Asiad!
— Geetika Swami (@SwamiGeetika) August 21, 2018
Congrats India’s newest shooting stars 🌠 #SaurabhChaudhary pic.twitter.com/2bVxXigpFJ
The Asian Games are being held in Palembang, Indonesia. India has so far won a total of nine medals, with the other two gold medals being won in wrestling.