Internet Desk: The duo of Jitu Rai and Prakash Nanjappa failed to qualify for the men’s 50m Pistol Final with a combined score of 554-9X to finish 12th with the top 8 moving forward.
Rai registered a poor 88 in the final series to undo his good work of the last two series where he shot 94 and 95.
At one stage in the final series, Jitu stood fifth and looked like qualifying. Then he dropped to ninth and eventually finished 12th in a major upset.
It was a disappointing first Olympics for Nanjappa too who could only score 547-10x to stand 25th in a field of 41.
Barring 90 in the third series, Jitu did well to hover around the 10th place and then climbed back with 94 and 95 in the fourth and fifth series. He had started the qualifying event with a 92 and 95 in the first two series.
Nanjappa on the other hand started with am 85 to never have a chance despite scoring 90, 91, 93, 95 and 93 in the next five series.
Earlier, in 10m air pistol final it was a heartbreak for India in the men’s 10m air pistol final after Jitu Rai finished eighth in the field of eight shooters with a score of 78.7 at the end of the elimination round.
Jitu had qualified for the final finishing sixth in the qualifying event and raised the hopes of India’s first medal at the Rio Games.
He will now compete at the men’s 50m air pistol event later this week. It was a tough final for Jitu as he began with some bad shots with first three being below the 10-mark. His last shot was 10.1 but that was not enough to save him from elimination.
The gold was won by Vitenam’s Hoang Xuan Vinh. He finished ahead of Brazil’s Felipe Almeida who was leading until a brilliant final shot by Vinh. The bronze was won by China.