Paris [France], July 27 (ANI): Senior Vice President of the National Rifle Association of India, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, said on Saturday that India “narrowly” missed a medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics.
Speaking to ANI, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said the Indian shooting team has 10 more days of competition and they are “very hopeful” about winning medals. He added that the shooting team is very strong.
“Today was the first day we’ve had three events. We narrowly missed a medal in the mixed team event. We were in the sixth position, and Manu Bhaker got into the finals of the air pistol shooting. It’s been encouraging, and there’s a lot more shooting left. We’ve got almost 10 more days of competition, so we are very hopeful. I think the team is very strong, and they’ve been given a lot of support from the government and NRAI,” Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said.
Earlier on Saturday, ace Indian shooter Manu Bhaker finished third in the qualification round of the Women’s 10m Air Pistol, qualifying for the final at the ongoing Paris Olympics. However, Rhythm Sangwan failed to secure a spot in the final, finishing in 15th place.
Manu Bhaker displayed a stunning performance in the qualification round. In the first two series, Manu ended with 97 points. In the third series, the 22-year-old bagged 98 points. In the final three series, she sealed 96 points to finish in third place with a total of 580-27x.
On the other hand, Manu’s teammate, Rhythm, ended up in the 15th spot with a total of 573-14x points and failed to make it into the final round.
Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema also failed to make it to the final round of the men’s 10m air pistol competition.
Cheema, in the 18th spot with 574-17x points, and Sarabjot, in the 9th spot with 577-16x points, failed to make it to the final eight who qualified for the medal round.
India’s shooting campaign in the Paris 2024 Olympics started with disappointment as two Indian teams in action during the qualification round in the 10m air rifle mixed team events failed to make it to the medal matches on Saturday.
Two Indian pairs, Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh, and Arjun Babuta and Ramita Jindal, took part in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifiers. Only four teams out of 28 qualified for the knockout stages, i.e., a gold medal match for the top two teams and a bronze medal match for teams ranked third and fourth. India could not make it to the final four.
Ramita and Arjun finished in sixth place with a total of 628.7 points after three series, out of which Ramita managed 314.5 and Arjun got 314.2 points. They fell just one point short of Germany, who finished fourth with 629.7 points.
On the other hand, the pair of Elavenil and Sandeep finished in 12th place with 626.3 points, with Elavenil scoring 312.6 points and Sandeep getting 313.7 points. (ANI)
