Heartbreak for India as Chaudhary-Manu pair finishes 7th in air pistol mixed team

TIL Desk Sports/ There was more heartbreak for Indian shooters as the team of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker — favourites to win a medal — failed to qualify for the 10m air pistol mixed team medal matches at the Tokyo Olympics, finishing seventh in Qualification Stage 2 at the Asaka Shooting Range on Tuesday. The other Indian pair of Abhishek Verma and Yashaswini Singh Deswal in the event bowed out with a 17th place finish in Qualification Stage 1 on Tuesday.

India’s string of poor performances at the shooting range has seen them go without a medal in six events they have competed in so far. Chaudhary and Manu, who were strong favourites after winning all four mixed team gold medals in the four World Cups in 2019, suffered due to a poor start in the eight-team field and finished with a total score of 380 (Chaudhary 194/200 and Manu 186/200). They needed to be in the top four to qualify for any of the two medal matches.

While Chaudhary shot a solid 96/100 in series 1 of the Qualification Stage 2, Manu was off-colour shooting 92, which saw the Indian pair sink to the bottom of the eight-team field. The duo did marginally better in series 2 scoring 192 — Chaudhary 98 and Manu 94 — but it wasn’t enough to lead them into the top-four. Earlier in the Qualification Stage 1, Chaudhary and Manu had given indication that they were gunning for the top prize when they topped the 20-team field with a total score of 582/600 (Manu 286/300 and Chaudhary 296/300).