Indian shooters Rajeshwari Kumari and Shreyasi Singh failed to advance to the final round of the women’s trap qualification event. Both athletes, making their Olympic debuts, finished with identical scores of 113/125 after five rounds, placing them 22nd and 23rd respectively.
Only the top six shooters progressed to the final. Despite the overall result, Rajeshwari Kumari managed to achieve a perfect score of 25/25 in the third round, marking the only flawless performance by an Indian in this event.
On the other hand, Swapnil Kusale secured a spot in the final of the men’s 50m 3P event. Kusale finished seventh in the qualification round with a score of 590-38x, narrowly making the cut for the top eight shooters.
His compatriot, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, narrowly missed out, finishing 11th with a score of 589-33x. The final is scheduled for Thursday at 1 PM IST, where Kusale will compete for what could be India’s third medal at these Games.
India has already tasted success in shooting at these Olympics. Manu Bhaker made history by becoming the first Indian woman in 20 years to reach a shooting final in an individual event, subsequently winning bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol. Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh also secured bronze in the mixed team 10m air pistol event, defeating the South Korean pair 16-10 in the play-off match.
With this medal, India’s medal tally has increased to two in the Paris Olympics. Both Bhaker and Sarabjot shot consistently with regular 10s in the series against the Koreans. Manu-Sarabjot secured 580-20x points in total to finish third.
Manu’s hunt for her third Olympic medal will begin when she takes part in the 25m pistol event.
Earlier on Sunday, the 22-year-old became the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympics. Bhaker brought India’s first medal in the ongoing mega event as she won a bronze medal with a score of 221.7 at the 10 Metre Women’s Air Pistol event.
(Inputs from ANI)