Jitu Rai disappoints in the 10m air pistol final
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Jitu Rai made a remarkable comeback to sneak into the final, but failed to replicate his form as he finished last in the final of the 10 M air pistol event today. Jitu lost the plot early on and could not recover, but the Indian will be back for his favorite 50m pistol event on Wednesday.
Jitu had earlier in the day languished in the 15-20 range during the qualification round, but in a brilliant display, he hit six consecutive 10s in the final six attempts to sneak his way into the final by finishing in the sixth spot. Jitu finished at 580 with 22 bullseyes, while the top position went to Pang Wei, the 2012 silver medalist in the event, with 590 points. Gurpreet Singh, the other Indian in the fray ended with 576 points in the 20th place.
However, his form dipped in the first three shots as he shot only 28.9 to slip into a lonely last spot in the final. He recovered with a perfect 30 and followed it with 19.8 in the next series, but it just was not enough in the end. The man from Lucknow cut a sad figure as he walked over to the seating area. However, Jitu will be back for his favorite 50m pistol event in four days time for another shot at the podium.
After his elimination, as the competitors were eliminated one by one, Vietnamese HOANG Xuan Vinh took the lead and held on to it against local favorite Wu Felipe Almeida. Eventually, he set an Olympic final record of 202.5 to take the gold, while Almeida settled for silver with 202.1. Pang Wei of China took the bronze to give China its third medal on the opening day.
