Double Trap shooters Mohammed Asab and Ankur Mittal and 10m Air Rifle marksman Akhil Sheoran had a golden opportunity to secure three quota places for India but a slight lapse of concentration in their respective finals undid all the hard work.
It was a perfect case of so near yet so far for Indian shooters on the fourth day of the Asian Shooting Qualifiers for the Rio Olympics here on Saturday.
Double Trap shooters Mohammed Asab and Ankur Mittal and 10m Air Rifle marksman Akhil Sheoran had a golden opportunity to secure three quota places for India but a slight lapse of concentration in their respective finals undid all the hard work.
Asab, World No. 7 in double trap, managed to win a bronze medal following a shoot-off against Korea's Shin Woo Hyun but failed to bring India their 12th quota for Rio. Nursing a shoulder injury, Asab beat Hyun 26-24 in the 15-double series which comprised 30 shots.
Asab, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist, could not practice for five straight days and spent most of his time taking painkillers. Despite that, he shot with a lot of conviction and precision to top the qualification stage with a total of 142 out of 150 points in the 26-strong field.
His compatriot Mittal also qualified for the six-man semifinal after occupying the second spot with 141 points. The event offered two quota places for the two finalists. UAE's Khaled Alkaabi and Kuwait's double Olympic medallist, Fehaid Aldeehani, shot 28 and 27, respectively, in the 30-shot series to not only qualify for the final but also claim the two Rio quotas. Later, Alkaabi (26) pipped Aldeehani (25) for the gold medal match-up by a solitary point.
"I feel dejected and it's a sad day in my life," Asab said. "I tried my best but luck was not on my side. I should have won quota place for India, but the pressure got better of me. I was also looking at the timer constantly during the shots as we had to hit the target within 12 seconds. That also built some pressure."
In other results, Ronjan Sodhi finished 16th with 126 points and couldn't even qualify for the semifinal. It will be the first time since 2004 Athens Olympics that India will be without representation in the double trap event at the Olympics. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore represented the country in 2004 and 2008 (Beijing), while Sodhi was India's entry at the London Games.
In the 10m air rifle, young Sheoran looked on course to grab one of the two quotas available and was consistently shooting in the 10-point region to remain in top-three position in the 20-shot final. In fact, at one moment, he occupied the top spot after his first three shots landed him 31.4 points.
He was in contention till the 13th shot, before Iran's Pourya Norouziyan got ahead of him thereafter and held on to his lead. India already have a quota through Abhinav Bindra in the event. The two quotas went to Japan's Naoya Okada and Pourya.
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