India's Lakshay Sheoran fumbled on the verge of an Olympic quota and finished with a bronze medal in men's trap final at the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Kuwait City.
Lakshay, 25, was leading the field till nerves struck in the crucial final stages after the three medallists were decided. Only two quota places were on offer from the tournament and Lakshay, 15-year-old Mohammad Beyrananvand of Iran and Guo Yuhao of China were left to fight for the two Paris Games berths.
Until then, Lakshay had a clear edge with 31 hits from 35 targets. Beyrananvand and Guo were tied on 29. That's when the Indian lost his composure, missing three of his next five clay targets, while his Chinese and Iranian rivals showed a fearless approach, hitting all five targets to take the two quota places. A crushed Lakshay left the stage shaking his head.
Beyrananvand and Guo finished tied on 40 hits and the Iranian teenager showed tremendous temperament to grab victory in the shoot-off.
Earlier, in the qualification round, Lakshay, the 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, scored 119/125 to make it to the six-shooter final at fourth place. In the final, he established an early lead with 17 hits after 20 targets, and 22/25 when eliminations started. After 30 shots Lakshay was going strong with 27/30 to stay in the lead. However, in the end he was left to rue his missed chances. Seasoned shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu was controversially disqualified before competition because of a faulty gun stock.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, in the qualification round, Lakshay, the 2018 Asian Games silver medallist, scored 119/125 to make it to the six-shooter final at fourth place. In the final, he established an early lead with 17 hits after 20 targets, and 22/25 when eliminations started. After 30 shots Lakshay was going strong with 27/30 to stay in the lead. However, in the end he was left to rue his missed chances. Seasoned shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu was controversially disqualified before competition because of a faulty gun stock.
{{/usCountry}}In women's trap, Shreyasi Singh qualified for the final with a total of 115 but finished fifth in the final with 19 hits out of 25. Chinese Taipei's Liu Wan-Yu and Zhang Xinqiu won the quota places after claiming gold and silver.
India will have the opportunity to shoot for quota places in skeet. In shotgun events, India have won only two of the eight quotas on offer so far with trap shooters Bhowneesh Mendiratta and Rajeshwari Kumari having secured berths for Paris Olympics last year.