Bindra was tired, Anjali lost confidence: Coach

The rifle shooter failed to win a medal at the Olympics because he was "completely exhausted" in the finals, Sunny Thomas has said.

Ace Indian rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra failed to win a medal at the just-concluded Athens Olympics because he was "completely exhausted" in the finals, chief national coach Sunny Thomas has said.

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"Abhinav had put in all his energy in the qualification round of the 10m rifle event and when the finals began he was completely exhausted," Thomas said.

Bindra, who was projected as a prospective medal winner before the games started on August 13, finished third with 597/600 points in the first round of 47 competitors to qualify for the finals August 16.

However, in the finals held just a couple of hours after the qualification round, 21-year-old Bindra looked completely out of sorts and finished seventh with a score of 97.6/110 in the 10 rounds.

Qinan Zhu of China won the gold with scores of 599/600 in the qualifying and 103.7 in the finals.

Thomas, the long-standing Indian team coach, said Bindra, a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since July 2002, was drained when the finals started at the Markopoulos Olympic Shooting Centre.

"He was exhausted in the finals and that is why he could not put in his best effort, though he thought his body was okay," Thomas said.

"He should have eaten something or taken juice after the qualification round," he said, adding that the Chandigarh boy could not hold the rifle properly because of weakness.

Gagan Narang, the only other Indian entry in this category, finished joint 12th with six others with 593/600 and failed to qualify for the finals.

As for the failure of Anjali Bhawat, touted as another possible medal winner, Thomas said she "lost confidence" in the 10 m rifle event and had problems in the kneeling segment of the 50 m three-position rifle event.

"For two months before the Olympics she had practiced the three-position event and thus lost touch with the 10 m rifle event," said Thomas.

"Two day before the games started, she tried to regain form in the 10 m event and she even discovered it during pre-event practice but in the qualification round she lost confidence," said the 62-year-old coach.

Anjali, the first Indian to qualify for the Athens Olympics, scored a poor 393/400 to finish joint 20th with an El Salvador shooter and crashed out in the qualifying round.

The top eight shooters, including India's Suma Shirur (396.2/400), qualified for the finals, with the topper scoring 399/400 and the eighth 396/400.

Suma, who sprung a pleasant surprise by qualifying for the finals, however finished eighth and last with 101.2/110 in the finals.

Anajli also failed in the three-position event as she finished joint 13th with two others (575/600) and failed to make it to the finals, for which the top eight shooters qualified.

"She did well in prone (97/100 and 96/100) and standing (97/100 and 96/100) positions, but she had some problem in the kneeling section (92/100 and 97/100), which cost her dearly," said Thomas.

That fact that the three-position event was held after the 10 m rifle event, at which she had better chances, must have weighed heavily on the 35-year-old's mind.

Deepali Deshpande, the other Indian woman in the three-position event, finished 19th with a score of 572/600 and went out.