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Bindra bids for golden farewell
RIO DE JANEIRO: Abhinav Bindra will aim for one last flourish in his fifth Olympics as he competes in the men’s 10m air rifle event on Monday along with Gagan Narang.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Abhinav Bindra will aim for one last flourish in his fifth Olympics as he competes in the men’s 10m air rifle event on Monday along with Gagan Narang.
Bindra, 33, is India’s best Olympic story, making amends for missing out on a final spot in Sydney 2000 as a teenager by going on to become India’s first individual champion in the greatest sporting show on earth at Beijing eight years ago. He missed out in London where Narang won bronze in the event and has announced that Rio will be his last Olympics, having struggled with a troublesome back for years. India will look up to the elder statesman as their shooters have failed to make a mark so far in Brazil.
Trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai’s chances of qualifying for the final looks tough. After the first 75 shots, Sandhu was lying 17th with a score of 68 while Chenai was 19th with 67. The second phase of qualification and final will be held on Monday.
GERMANY TEST
India will have to drastically improve their game in a big test of skill and character when they take on defending champions Germany in their second Pool B men’s hockey match on Monday.
After dropping their intensity in the later stages in the 3-2 win over Ireland in the opening game, the first win in the Olympics for 12 years, the eight-time champions face a tough job. India were held 3-3 by Germany on their way to a runners-up finish in the Champions Trophy in June after leading by two goals. Soon after, Germany showed they had warmed up for the Olympics when they thrashed India 4-0 in the six-nation invitational event in Spain.
Although four of the six teams from the group will qualify for the quarters, India have to be at their best as Argentina, Netherlands and Canada are the other teams they take on. The women’s hockey team, which rallied to hold Japan on their return to Olympics after 36 years, face Great Britain next. Swimmers, Sajan Prakash in 200m butterfly and Shivani Khataria in 200m freestyle are also in action.
