Showing an extraordinary performance, The 22-year old Manu Bhakar successfully secured her spot in the 10m women’s air pistol final after a weak start by her fellow competitors. While Indian shooters experienced disappointment in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification round at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. Also, Sarabjot finished in ninth place, just shy of the qualifying spots, missing out due to having fewer inner 10s men’s 10m air pistol finals.
Bhaker scored 580, placing her third in the qualifications, while Hungarian star Veronika Major secured the top position with a score of 582. Rhythm Sangwan, the other Indian participant, finished the qualifications in 15th place with a score of 573. The final showdown is scheduled for Sunday. On the other hand, in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification Ramita and Arjun Babuta finished in sixth place with a combined score of 628.7, while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended in 12th place with a total score of 626.3.
Manu Bhakar, the shooter from Haryana started strong, scoring 97 points and finishing in fourth place after Series 1. She continued her solid performance in the second series with another 97, keeping her fourth position. Meanwhile, Sangwan fell to 26th place due to a disappointing performance that included an 8. Bhaker, however, bounced back into the top two with a remarkable 98 in the third series.
Despite a rare off shot of 8 in the fifth series, her only subpar performance in an otherwise exceptional qualification, Bhaker stayed in the race and eventually secured a place in the final.
While in the 10m air rifle mixed team challenge, Ramita and Babuta were in contention, holding fifth place with three shots remaining, but missed the medal round by just 1.0 point. Babuta had a strong performance in the second relay, shooting scores of 10.5, 10.6, 10.5, and 10.9. Ramita followed with scores of 10.2, 10.7, 10.3, and 10.1 in the same series, which helped the team move into the top eight. Despite their efforts, they did not qualify for the bronze medal round. Shooters from China, Korea, and Kazakhstan secured the top three spots in the qualifications.
To progress to the medal matches, teams needed to rank in the top four.
India’s Sarabjot Singh, who narrowly missed out on a spot in the final 8 of the men’s 10m Air Pistol on July 27. Sarabjot lost the final spot to Germany’s Robin Walter by a hair’s breadth, with both shooters having the same average score after the 6 series. The deciding factor was just one inner 10. Meanwhile, India’s Arjun Singh Cheema also had a disappointing performance, finishing the round in 18th place.