Gun problem stumps Manu

Vinayak Padmadeo

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 25

Another day, another disappointment from the shooting range in Asaka — the Indian shooters once again failed to make it to the podium positions today. The four in action, in fact, failed to even reach the finals of their events. Sunday’s results, which came on the back of a bad day on Saturday when only Saurabh Chaudhary qualified for the final, has caused an intense reaction on social media: Many have called for the sacking of coaches.

Malfunction

Manu Bhaker’s gun malfunction, has been garnering a lot of interest. The cocking lever of Manu’s gun broke. Manu, pistol coach Ronak Pandit and a jury member had to leave the range to get the pistol fixed. Later the electronic circuit that enables the firing mechanism was found to be faulty as well.

As a result, Manu, who is currently world No. 2, had only around 38 minutes to finish the qualification round. She missed a place in the final after registering an eight, eventually ending 12th with a total score of 575 points. Teammate Yashaswini Deswal finished 14th with 574.

Manu insisted on not using the spare gun because of the difference in grip. Using it would have meant losing more time. Pandit, who was assigned to work with Manu only in the last two months, said that under the circumstances, Manu did well to recover from the setbacks. “A lot of people who are commenting about the malfunction have very little knowledge about the equipment. It was the cocking lever that broke and not the trigger,” Pandit said on the phone from Tokyo.

“Eventually when everything was fixed and she returned to the firing station she only had 38 minutes to finish 44 shots. Considering the circumstances she did very well to come within a shot of entering the final,” Pandit added.

In addition to over 17 minutes lost to fix the faulty gun, Manu lost a further three minutes because she did not get the green signal from the jury to start shooting again.