Rio 2016 | Agonising miss for India; Abhinav Bindra finishes fourth in 10m air rifle final
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In a nail-biting final in the men’s 10m air rifle, India’s 2008 Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra missed out on a medal after finishing fourth in the event. In a tense shoot-off, Bindra shot a 10, while Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish shot a 10.5 to remain in the last three and to confirm a medal.
In the final, Bindra started poorly and only managed 29.9 in his first three shots. He bounced back in the next three shots and jumped from 7th to 5th with a score of 30.2. Before the first elimination, he shot 20.7 to move into
Bindra hit a 10.7 in the next shot to jump into the second spot, but a 10.1 in the next shot pushed him back to third. After 12 shots, he was 0.1 behind the second-placed Russian Vladimir Maslennikov and 0.8 behind Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish, who was at first.
Bindra, then, hit a 9.7 and 10.5 in the next two shots to remain in the third place. With the bronze in sight, Bindra hit a 9.9 to slip to fourth. He hit 10.2 in the 16th shot, but the Ukrainian hit a 9.7. With both players tied on 163.8, the duo went into a shoot-off for a place in the last three. The Ukrainian hit a 10.5, but Bindra only managed a 10 as he bowed out of the event with a medal in sight.
Bindra, who will retire from shooting after the Rio Olympics, came agonisingly close to securing another medal for India. But, it wasn’t to be.
Italy’s Niccolo Campriani, who finished first in the qualification round by creating an Olympic round, took the gold in the event with a final Olympic record score of 206.1. Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish won the silver medal, while Russia’s Vladimir Maslennikov won the bronze medal.
Earlier, Abhinav Bindra qualified for the final in the seventh position after scoring 625.7, while Gagan Narang finished 23rd with 621.7 to miss out on the finals.
