Former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra shot 624.6 and missed a final berth by one point in the shooting World Cup in Fort Benning, US, on Wednesday.
With only Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela having won Olympic quota places for Rio so far, the focus was on the five quota places on offer on the day — three in men’s air rifle and two in women’s sports pistol.
In the event, none of the Indian shooters, which included five who had competed in the London Olympics, made the finals to be able to stay in the reckoning for the elusive Olympic quota.
Bindra had to grapple with a slow start and a below par finish in a series of 102.8, 104.0, 104.6, 105.1, 104.9 and 103.2. It was indeed high quality shooting as Bindra did not shoot a 9, till he had a 9.9 and 9.8 on the last card. In the earlier format, he would have had a score of 598. But the decimal scoring gauged the intrinsic quality of shooting better in placing the eight finalists, from a field of 100 shooters.
The two other Olympians in the fray, Sanjeev Rajput (623.0) and Gagan Narang (622.9) placed 25 and 26 respectively. Shooting in the MQS section, Satyendra Singh came up with the best score of 624.8.
Milutin Stefanovic of Serbia won the gold and the Olympic quota place, as he beat the world No.1, the 19-year-old Yang Haoran of China by 0.7 point. Interestingly, the 30-year-old Stefanovic was also assured of his entry in the Rio Olympics, as Serbia has a policy that the shooters who win the quota place make it to the Games.
Bronze medallist Anton Rizov of Bulgaria and the fifth placed Alexander Schmirl of Austria were awarded the other two Olympic quota places in the event.
In women’s sports pistol, Anisa Sayyed (577) followed by Olympians Annu Raj Singh (576) and Rahi Sarnobat (575) finished 21, 23 and 29 respectively. Anisa missed a spot in the knock-out by seven points after shooting 284 in the precision stage and 293 in the rapid fire section.
Gundegmaa Otryad of Mongolia won her second successive World Cup gold, as she outplayed Antoaneta Boneva of Bulgaria 7-1. The reigning World Champion and the Asian Games champion Zhang Jingjing of China beat the 18-year-old Mathilda Lamolle of France for the bronze. But, the Bulgarian and the French girls were awarded the two Olympic quota places.
The results:
Men: 10m air rifle: 1. Milutin Stefanovic (Srb) 209.7 (626.3); 2. Yang Haoran (Chn) 209.0 (630.5); 3. Anton Rizov (Bul) 185.8 (626.1); 15. Abhinav Bindra 624.6; 25. Sanjeev Rajput 623.0; 26. Gagan Narang 622.9. MQS: Satyendra Singh 624.8; Chain Singh 622.7.
Women: 25m sports pistol: 1. Gundegmaa Otryad (Mgl) 7 (17) 584; 2. Antoaneta Boneva (Bul) 1 (18) 587; 3. Zhang Jingjing (Chn) 7 (16) 587; 4. Mathilde Lamolle (Fra) 1 (16) 585; 21. Anisa Sayyed 577; 23. Annu Raj Singh 576; 29. Rahi Sarnobat 575. MQS: Shreya Gawande 561; Heena Sidhu 557.
