Dismal day for Indians at Munich World Cup

Former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, Pooja Ghatkar and Ayonika Paul came very close to making the cut, which gave a fair hint of their strong preparation for the Olympics.

In men’s air rifle, Abhinav Bindra shot 626.2 and missed the final by 1.4 point.

None of the Indian shooters made the final in either men or women’s air rifle on the opening day of the World Cup in Munich on Saturday.

However, former World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, Pooja Ghatkar and Ayonika Paul came very close to making the cut, which gave a fair hint of their strong preparation for the Olympics.

In men’s air rifle, Abhinav Bindra shot 626.2 and missed the final by 1.4 point. Bindra had a series of 105.5, 105.0, 103.4, 104.6, 104.3, 103.4 as he placed 15th in a field of 114 shooters.

While London Games bronze medallist Gagan Narang opted to skip the event owing to an injury, Chain Singh was 41st with a total of 622.8. Akhil Sheoran could not get into the vacant slot and shot 622.1 in the MQS section.

In women’s air rifle, former Asian champion Pooja Ghatkar shot 417.4 and missed the final by 1.1 point. A slow start put paid to her chances as Pooja placed 13th in a strong field of 137 shooters. Ayonika Paul (417.2) and Apurvi Chandela (412.1), both of whom will be competing in the Rio Games, placed 16th and 67th respectively.

Meanwhile, in men’s 50-metre free pistol, Jitu Rai (562), Prakash Nanjappa (555) and Omkar Singh (547) fared well in the elimination round to make it to the qualification phase, scheduled for Sunday.

The results:

10m air rifle:

Men: 1. Qian Xuechao (Chn) 210.6 (FWR) 627.8; 2. Cao Yifei (Chn) 208.3 (629.2); 3. Serhiy Kulish (Ukr) 186.8 (629.9); 15. Abhinav Bindra 626.2; 41. Chain Singh 622.8. MQS: Akhil Sheoran 622.1.