There was huge expectations from the Indian shooters when they left for the Olympic Games but perhaps the hype was a trifle misplaced as the biggest ever shooting contingent returned with just a silver and a bronze.
The big names of Indian shooting did not quite live up to the reputations and the form deserted them when it mattered the most.
The unheralded Vijay Kumar's silver medal in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event and Gagan Narang's bronze in the men's 10m air rifle event were the saving grace for the Indian contingent, which prepared well for the Olympics with many of them training abroad.
Apart from these two medal winning efforts, Joydeep Karmakar came up with a creditable performance in the 50m rifle prone, missing out on a bronze by a whisker to take the fourth position.
It was a heart-warming performance by Karmakar in his very first Olympics and it became all the more creditable since many of his other fancied teammates flopped.
When the team left the Indian shores, Beijing Games gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, Narang and Ronjan Sodhi were touted as serious medal contenders and the media was talking about an unprecedented hall of medals from the shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
{{/usCountry}}When the team left the Indian shores, Beijing Games gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, Narang and Ronjan Sodhi were touted as serious medal contenders and the media was talking about an unprecedented hall of medals from the shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
{{/usCountry}}While Narang managed a bronze in one of his three events, Bindra and Sodhi turned in disappointing performances, failing to even clear the qualification rounds in their respective categories.
All in all, it again proved that Indian shooters, despite having improved vastly over the years, lacked the confidence and the composure to do well in the biggest sporting show on earth.