CHATEAUROUX:Kismat ka khel (game of luck) denied pistol shooter Sarabjot Singh but with a consistently steady performance,Manu Bhakerbrought the cheer back in the Indian camp on Day 1 of the Paris Olympics shooting competition on a rain-swept day at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, here, on Saturday.
Singh was left crestfallen at the end of the 10m air pistol men’s qualifiers after he finished level on points (577) with Germany’s Robin Walter but lost out on making the last eight for having one less inner-10 score, technically called X (perfect score). Singh finished with 16. Arjun Singh Cheema, another debutant in the same event, finished 18 th with a score of 574 out of a maximum of 600.
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Sarabjot Singh, the 22-year-old from Ambala had the distinction of scoring a perfect 100 in his fourth round but his shaky start and an under-par 93 in the fifth and penultimate round cost him a place in the final. Every shooter is allowed to take 60 shots over six rounds.
Singh was so disappointed that he refused to talk to reporters. Former international Samaresh Jung, the Indian pistol team coach, told the Herald that ‘kismat (luck)’ did not side with the two-time world championship gold medallist and ‘pressure certainly got the better of Sarabjot’.
“These are the Olympics and that’s why every shot counts. He has done better in global competitions and one can’t deny the pressure on him. Only the dead or a fool will say that there is no pressure at the Olympics,” said Jung.
Pressure was there on Manu Bhaker, too. This is her second Olympics and having disappointed at Tokyo 2020 for a mix of factors and circumstances, Paris 2024 is certainly redemption time for the enormously talented youth Olympic champion.
With her personal coach Jaspal Rana watching from the sidelines, the 22-year-old Bhaker kept her composure to remain in the top 10 throughout the six rounds. Bhaker became the first Indian female shooter to reach an Olympic final in an individual event in the last 20 years! Suma Shirur had reached the final of the 10m air rifle event in Athens 2004.
Manu Bhaker finished with a score of 580 with 27xs (perfect scores) to qualify as the third-best shooter in her section. Hungary’s Veronica Major topped the qualification with a score of 582 out of a possible 600 and had 22xs. Korea’s Ye Jin Oh was second also with 582 but had two less perfect scores than Major. The competitive nature of this event can be gauged from the fact that the eighth and final qualifier in the 10m air pistol event, China’s Ranxin Jiang, finished with 577 as did the sixth and seventh qualifiers. The only differentiator was in the number of inner-10 or perfect scores.
“The Olympics have just started for Manu,” said former Asian Games gold medallist and a much-in-the-news coach, Jaspal Rana. The presence of her personal coach certainly gave Bhaker a lot of confidence.
Frequent eye-to-eye interactions helped for sure. Rana’s breathing tips were conspicuous and he told the Herald that the air-conditioning was inadequate and the presence of many people left the range a bit suffocating.
Both Bhaker and Rana skipped any official interaction with the media, probably reserving their comments after the final on Sunday 12 noon local time (3.30 pm IST).
Rhythm Sangwan, the second Indian woman in the 10m air pistol qualifiers drifted in and out of the competition. The Olympic debutant started with a promising 97 but a 92 in round 2 and a 95 in round 5, saw her sliding out of the top 10. She finished 15th in the 44-woman field with a score of 574 (17 perfect scores).
The day did not start as anticipated for Team India. Two Indian pairs – Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta and Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh – lined up for the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifiers. Both finished outside the top four. While the Ramita-Babuta pair finished a creditable sixth with a score of 628.7, Elavenil-Singh ended 12 th with a score of 626.3. China, represented by Sheng Liaho and Huang Yuting, won the gold in this event with a score of 632.2 and Korea (631.4) won the silver. China’s was thus the first gold medal of Paris 2024.
Technically speaking, since the 10m air rifle mixed team bronze medal match was played before the gold-medal round, Kazakhstan (630.8) clinched the first medal of the Paris Olympics when they beat Germany (629.7) to the third place.
All eyes on Sunday will be on Manu Bhaker but Indians will line up for two more qualifiers – 10m air rifle women and 10m air rifle men. Elavenil Valarivan, playing her second Olympics, and Ramita will be the women on show. In the men’s qualifiers, Sandeep Singh and Babuta will hope to overturn the disappointment of Saturday.
