Indian shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh failed to reach the finals of the men’s 50 metres Rifle Prone competition in the Olympics on Friday.
It was particularly disappointing for Narang, who was placed as high as 4th at one stage. However, he bungled the advantage by shooting his poorest in the sixth and final series, which yielded him his lowest score of 102.4. Narang’s series break-up stood at 104.7, 104.4, 104.6, 103.0, 104.0, 102.4.
Singh, on the other hand, never seemed to be in the reckoning after losing the plot in his second and fourth series, which fetched him scores of 101 and 102.4. His subsequent efforts at salvaging the situation could not save him from a free-fall on the leaderboard. Singh shot a series of 104.1, 101.0, 104.4, 102.4, 103.9, 103.8.
Narang and Singh will still have a shot at redemption on Sunday, the final day of shooting, when they take aim in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event. Touted as the brightest medal hopes for the country, the shooters have been way off the mark at the mega-event. Beijing Games gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra has so far been the best performer with a fourth-place finish in the 10m Air Rifle event.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI.)
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