It was the first time players from India and Pakistan competed together at a multi-sport event.
India and Pakistan are bitter rivals on and off the field. However, at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 players from both countries came together to compete in a rare occassion.
India's Youth Olympics gold medallist Saurabh Chaudhary paired up with Nubaira Babur of Pakistan in the 10m air pistol mixed team event in Buenos Aires on Friday. It was the first time players from India and Pakistan competed together at a multi-sport event.
The duo of Chaudhary and Babur lost in the round of 16 of the mixed international team event.
Saurabh Chaudhary, who won the gold medal in the boys’ 10m air pistol event, was paired with Babur, who had finished 20th in the women’s event. The Indo-Pak pair finished 15th in the qualification round.
The mixed international format is exclusive to the Youth Olympics. In shooting, the highest and the lowest-ranked players in the men’s and women’s individual events are paired together to compete.
These events are supposed to foster teamwork and friendship across borders as team members must work together to do well regardless of their ability or where they are from.
If one of these teams wins a medal, the Olympic flag is raised in recognition of the athletes at the victory ceremony. The Olympic anthem will be played for any mixed-country team that wins gold.
Bhaker wins silver in mixed event
India's Manu Bhaker, the girls' 10m pistol event gold-medallist, was paired up with Bezhan Fayzullaev of Tajikistan. They won the silver medal.
Unlike the individual 10m pistol events, the qualification and round of 16 happen on the first day of the event while the quarter-final, semi-final and final events take place on the second.
The mixed International team format of round of 16 sees the highest scoring team in the qualification shoot against the lowest-scoring, and so on and so forth. Two members of each team fire a shot each and the total score is compared to the other team, with the highest-scoring team taking a point. The teams continue till a team reaches 10 points.
Currently the mixed international team events take place in the disciplines of triathlon relay, judo, shooting, archery and fencing. The fencing and triathlon events see teams based on continents while the other events see teams formed on the basis of nationalities.
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 "India-Pakistan pair competes together at Youth Olympics")
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