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Anjali out, Suma finishes 8th
Top Indian medal hope Anjali Bhagwat finished a poor 20th in first round of Olympic shooting contest. Olympics opening ceremony in pics
Anjali Bhagwat, one of India's brightest medal prospects, stumbled badly to bow out in the preliminary round of the women's 10m air rifle while her compatriot Suma Shirur finished eighth as the nation's shooters launched their Olympic campaign on a disappointing note on Saturday.
Suma, who had equalled the first round world record by scoring a perfect 400 in the Asian Championships, did surprisingly well to get into the final before finishing last among the eight finalists.
But the big disappointment for the medal starved country was the performance of World No. 6 Anjali, who failed to live upto the big expectations. The 35-year-old Mumbaikar, who won the World Cup Final in Italy last year, never recovered from a poor first round score ending with a series of 96, 100, 98 and 99 to tally 393/400 which got her a joint 20th place.
Suma, who was seventh after the preliminary round with 396, also failed to rise to the big occasion, managing only 101. 2 in her first big final that gave her a final score of 497.2 almost five points off Chinese gold medallist Li Du.
The 30-year-old was happy to qualify for the final but felt she should have done better in the nerve-wracking final.
"I am happy to have reached the final but I feel I could have done better. It was a definitely a good learning experience for me," she said.
"I am a bit disappointed that I could not do so well in the final. I have the world record of 400 and I could have done better. This is my first final so probably there was some kind of a mental block," she said.
Li Du, the world record holder from China successfully defended her Sydney gold with a superb score of 502.0 (398, 104), a new Olympic record in the finals. Du displayed consummate skill and concentration in the final to win the coveted first gold of the Games.
Du also holds the finals world record of 504.9.
Russia's Lioubov Galkina claimed the silver medal with a total score of 501.5 (399, 102.5) while Czech Republic's Katerina Kurkova had to be content with the bronze medal with a score of 501.1 (398, 103.1).
After her impressiver performance in the preliminary round, Suma stumbled in the final against seven of the world's best shooters.
She paid a heavy price for two poor shots -- the first and sixth which gave her only (9.8 and 9.2 points) -- in the final which upset her rhyhtm to a great extent.
National coach Sunny Thomas was understandably disappointed with the Indian performance on the opening day.
"They tried their best. The competition is very tough in the Olympics and we have to just try hard," he said.
The other shooters in the fray like Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang (men's 10m air rifle) will be seen in action on Monday while Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, India's other medal hope in shooting in double trap, will be seen in action on August 17.
