Indian shooters were eliminated in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifications stage of the Paris Olympics on Saturday. Ramita and Arjun Babuta finished sixth with a total score of 628.7, while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended at 12th place with an aggregate score of 626.3.
The duo of Ramita and Arhun Babuta came close and was placed fifth with three shots remaining but fell 1.0 point short of the medal round cut-off.
Babuta enjoyed a fine start in the second relay and had a sequence that read 10.5, 10.6, 10.5, 10.9, while Ramita managed 10.2, 10.7, 10.3, 10.1 in the second series, their effort taking the team into the top 8.
But, to get into the bronze medal round, they needed to do more than what they eventually achieved. Shooters from China (first), Korea (second) and Kazakhstan (third) dominated the qualifications. A side has to get to the top four to enter the medal matches.
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India still has hopes left in shooting with Day 1 to stage the qualification rounds featuring Arjun Singh Cheema, Sarajbot Singh, Manu Bhaker, and Rhythm Sangwan in the 10m air pistol events. The contingent will look to put behind the heartbreak in Tokyo 2020. India was represented by the largest shooting contingent, comprising 15 athletes. However, pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary was the only athlete to qualify for the finals, while rifle shooters produced below-par performances.
{{/usCountry}}India still has hopes left in shooting with Day 1 to stage the qualification rounds featuring Arjun Singh Cheema, Sarajbot Singh, Manu Bhaker, and Rhythm Sangwan in the 10m air pistol events. The contingent will look to put behind the heartbreak in Tokyo 2020. India was represented by the largest shooting contingent, comprising 15 athletes. However, pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary was the only athlete to qualify for the finals, while rifle shooters produced below-par performances.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the day, Indian rower Balraj Panwar's valiant efforts went in vain as he finished fourth in the in the heats of the men's single Sculls event. He clocked 7:07.11s, thus falling behind New Zealand's Thomas Mackintosh (6:55.92), Stefanos Ntouskos (7:01.79) and Abdelkhalek Elbanna (7:05.06). He will, however, get a second chance when he competes in the repechage round on Sunday to advance to the semifinals or finals.
(with agency inputs)