Indian shooting contingent draws blank for second day running
Tokyo, Jul 25 (PTI): The fancied Indian shooting team drew a blank for the second day running in the Tokyo Olympics here, with a major weapon malfunction leading to a heartbreaking exit for the young Manu Bhaker in the women’s 10 air pistol event.
Appearing in her maiden Olympics, the 19-year-old Manu finished a creditable 12th, despite losing nearly 20 minutes during the qualifications after the cocking lever in her pistol broke down, forcing her to go to a designated area for getting it fixed.
Manu shot 575, while the cut-off was 577. Yashaswini Singh Deswal, the other first-timer at the Games, recovered from a subdued start to end 13th, with a total score of 574. In the men’s 10 air rifle event, both the experienced Deepak Kumar and the teenaged Divyansh Singh Panwar finished a lowly 26th and 32nd respectively. Deepak aggregated 624.7 while Divyansh shot 622.8 over the six series, scores which were never going to be enough to make the final.
India’s Angad Vir Singh Bajwa missed two targets out of 75 to be placed 11th on count back at the end of the third round in men’s skeet qualifications. He looks to be in search of a top-six finals spot.
