The Indian shooting contingent's two extreme ends delivered the goods at Palembang yesterday. On one hand, the team's youngest member, Saurabh Chaudhary, 16, won gold in the 10m Air Pistol event, while at the other end of the spectrum, the oldest member of the small bore rifle team, veteran Sanjeev Rajput, 37, won silver in 50m Rifle 3 Position event. Just as their ages suggest extreme ends, both shooters were also at the extreme end of pressure yesterday.

While Chaudhary had absolutely no pressure on him considering this is his first Asian Games and maiden major senior international competition, Rajput was burdened with expectation given the huge reputation he had to defend. "In this shooting team, we have made it a conscious effort not to pressurise the youngsters because many of them are still teenagers. In fact, Saurabh is India's youngest ever Asian Games gold medallist in shooting. So, I'm sure he would have shot with a relaxed mind. However, Sanjeev is a World Cup gold medalist, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and multiple time Commonwealth Championships gold medalist, so had he lost here, he would have considered it to be a shame," National Rifle Association of India's (NRAI) Observer of rifle and pistol events, Ronak Pandit told mid-day here yesterday.