Shooters continue to misfire as Heena all but out of 25m pistol

Rio de Janeiro, August 9

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Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu, from whom a lot was expected in the run-up to the ongoing Olympic Games here, put up yet another flop show to stand a distant 30th out of 40 competitors at the end of the first half of the 25m event for women on Tuesday.

In the 30-shot precision round, Heena accumulated 286 points out of a possible 300 with series scores of 95, 95 and 96 that pushed her in the rear of the queue.

The rapid fire segment, also of 30 shots, was to follow and the Indian shooter needs to pull up her socks but chances of making the cut is too remote.

Heena, who had qualified by winning the gold in the Asia qualifiers, had failed to progress to the final of the 10m air pistol held on Sunday.

India’s overall display in shooting, considered among its main medal hunting ground, has not lived up to expectations with the best effort coming from Beijing Olympic Games rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra yesterday, a fourth place finish in the men’s 10m air rifle event.

Others, including another major medal hope Jitu Rai, had failed to sparkle thus far. Rai flopped in the 10m air pistol event but has the 50m event to look forward to now.

Another experienced campaigner, 2012 London Games bronze medal winner Gagan Narang, performed poorly in the 10m air rifle yesterday to finish 23rd.

He would be keen to make amends in the 50m range where he will be seen in action in rifle prone (August 12) and three position (August 14). — PTI