Rio Olympics 2016: Gagan Narang, Chain Singh Disappoint in 50m Rifle Prone Shooting
Gagan Narang blew away a strong start in the men's 50m rifle prone qualification, to crash out of the event at the Rio Olympics. Chain Singh too disappointed with a 36th place finish
Highlights
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Gagan Narang and Chain Singh both bowed out of the 50M rifle prone event
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Narang blew away a strong start to finish 13th
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Chain Singh started poorly and eventually finished in the 36th place
Indian shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh crashed out of the men's 50m rifle prone event at the Rio Olympics on Friday, after finishing out of the top 8 in the qualification round.
While Narang, who won the London Games bronze in 10m Air Rifle, signed off 13th with a total score of 623.1, Singh was way down at 36th with a score of 619.6 in the qualification round.
It was particularly disappointing for Narang, who was placed as high as 4th at one stage. However, he bungled the advantage by shooting his poorest in the final sixth and final series, which yielded him his lowest score of 102.4.
Narang's series break-up stood at 104.7, 104.4, 104.6, 103.0, 104.0, 102.4
Singh, on the other hand, never seemed to be in the reckoning after losing the plot in his second and fourth series, which fetched him scores of 101 and 102.4.
His subsequent efforts at salvaging the situation could not save him from a free-fall on the leaderboard. Singh shot a series of 104.1, 101.0, 104.4, 102.4, 103.9, 103.8.
Russia's Sergey Kamenskiy topped the qualification round with a new Olympic record score of 629, followed by compatriot Kirill Grigoryan (628.9). South Korean Kim Jhongyun came third in the qualifiers from where the top-8 made the cut for the finals.
Narang and Singh will still have a shot at redemption on Sunday, the final day of shooting, when they take aim in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event.
Touted as the brightest medal hopes for the country, the shooters have been way off the mark at the mega-event.
Beijing Games gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra has so far been the best performer with a fourth-place finish in the 10m Air Rifle event.
Meanwhile, in the 25-metre Rapid Fire Pistol event, Gurpreet Singh was placed 10th at the end of first qualifying phase with 289.
In men's skeet, Mairaj Ahmad Khan ended stage 1 qualifying at 10th position with 72. The Indian will shoot the remaining 25 birds on Sunday, which will be followed by the final.
(With inputs from PTI)