TOKYO: India's fancied shooting team drew a blank for the second day running at the Tokyo Olympics, with a major weapon malfunction leading to a heart-breaking exit for the young Manu Bhaker in the women's 10 air pistol event, on Sunday.
Appearing in her maiden Olympics, the 19-year-old Manu finished a creditable 12th, despite losing nearly 20 minutes during the qualification round after the cocking lever in her pistol broke down, forcing her to go to a designated area to get it fixed. Manu shot 575, while the cut-off was 577.
Yashaswini Singh Deswal, the other first-timer at the Games, recovered from a subdued start to end up 13th, with a total score of 574.
In the men's 10 metres air rifle event, the experienced Deepak Kumar and the teenaged Divyansh Singh Panwar finished a lowly 26th and 32nd respectively.
Deepak aggregated 624.7 while Divyansh shot 622.8 over the six series, scores that were never going to be enough to make the final. Angad Vir Singh Bajwa missed two targets out of 75 and was placed 11th on count back at the end of the third round in men's skeet qualification. He remains in search of a top-six finals spot. Agencies
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