Abhinav Bindra misses final spot at Rio World Cup

Former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra shot 626.2 and missed the men’s air rifle final by 0.5 point in the shooting World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

The 33-year-old Bindra, who has competed in four Olympics so far and is preparing for his fifth, shot a series of 103.7, 104.2, 103.8, 105.1, 105.3 and 104.1.

Former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra shot 626.2 and missed the men’s air rifle final by 0.5 point in the shooting World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

The 33-year-old Bindra, who has competed in four Olympics so far and is preparing for his fifth, shot a series of 103.7, 104.2, 103.8, 105.1, 105.3 and 104.1. Olympic and World Championship medallist, Gagan Narang, regaining his confidence in the event, shot 622.8 and placed 31 in a field of 82 shooters. The third Indian in the fray, who will not shoot this event in the Rio Games, Chain Singh was below par midway and thus had to settle for a score of 619.4 that put him in the 52nd place.

While Vladimir Maslennikov of Russia and Cao Yifei of China continued to assert their superb form by winning the gold and silver respectively after having topped the qualification, World champion, Youth Olympics champion and Asian Games gold medallist, Yang Haoran of China placed fifth, and London Olympics gold and silver medallist

Niccolo Campriani of Italy and former Olympic and World champion Zhu Qinan finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Meanwhile, World championship silver medallist and Asian Games champion Jitu Rai shot 563 and qualified for the final in men’s 50-metre free pistol. Prakash Nanjappa shot 556 and placed 19th among 56 shooters. Both had shot 555 in the elimination series earlier.

The results:

Men: 10m air rifle: 1. Vladimir Maslennikov (Rus) 207.0 (631.1); 2. Cao Yifei (Chn) 206.0 (629.3); 3. Sergey Kamenskiy (Rus) 184.5 (626.9); 10. Abhinav Bindra 626.2; 31. Gagan Narang 622.8; 52. Chain Singh 619.4.