‘No Excuses, I Let My Country Down,’ Says Jitu Rai After Rio Exit

Rai hit the bulls eye on nine occasions but it was his last shot that cost him a berth in the Finals.

Indian shooter Jitu Rai’s campaign at the Rio Olympics ended on yet another disappointing note. After getting eliminated in the 8th position of the 10m air pistol event earlier in the week, Rai couldn’t manage to even qualify for the finals of his ‘pet event’, the 50 metre air pistol.

He finished 12th in the prelims.

“I let my country down. There was wind, but I won’t make excuses,” a visibly upset Jitu said while speaking after crashing out.

The army man consistently managed to hit the bull’s eye on nine occasions and his cumulative scores after the six series qualification rounds read 92, 95, 90, 94, 95 and 88, to total 554. But a poor sixth and final series cost him the finals berth.

Reacting to the elimination, Raninder Singh, the NRAI President said he had never seen Jitu firing a meagre 88 in a final series.

I am absolutely surprised. I don’t know what to say. I have never seen Jitu Rai shoot like this in the closing minute. Perhaps he totally misread the wind. I can understand one shot going awry. But three? This is totally out of the blue. He was doing so well in the other series. To get 88 in the last one is unheard of from him.

Raninder Singh, NRAI President

Taking stock of his shooters performances, Raninder expressed his sorrow at the way both Jitu and Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Abhinav Bindra’s campaign ended at Rio.

On Monday, Bindra finished a disappointing fourth in 10m Air Rifle shoot-out in what was his swansong campaign.

We had two great medal hopes, Bindra and Rai. And both have disappointed. It’s really disheartening to see them in a touch and go position. Bindra’s medal slipped out of our hands, and Jitu’s shooting in the last few shots were absolutely inexplicable.

Raninder Singh, NRAI President

Earlier on Saturday, Jitu had made it to the finals of the men’s 10m Air Pistol event but could not get into medal contention.

Another Indian shooter Prakash Nanjappa also finished a lowly 25th to crash out of the quadrennial extravaganza on Wednesday.