India at Olympics 2021: 3 takeaways from women's 25m pistol event as Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat fail to progress past the qualification round

Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat were unable to progress past the qualification stage of the women’s 25m pistol event. The wait for an Olympic medal from the Indian Shooting team continues as these world class shooters continue to disappoint in Tokyo

Manu Bhaker scored 582/600 points (Precision - 292/300 and Rapid-fire - 290/300). Manu Bhaker, the World No.7 finished on the 15th spot in the qualification table.

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Rahi Sarnobat aggregated 573/600 points (Precision - 287/300 and Rapid-fire 286/300). She was ranked 32nd in the field of 44 shooters.

Here are three key takeaways from the women’s 25m pistol event:

#1 Manu Bhaker missed the final with a whisker:

At the end of the precision round yesterday, she was placed 5th in the qualification leaderboard. She had registered 97, 97, 98 in three series of the precision round. Today, she added 96, 97, 97 in three rounds of the rapid-fire stage.

In total, she aggregated 582/600 points with 17x. The 8th spot finalist had two additional points (584) and a couple of inner ten’s more (19x). This signifies that a marginal difference resulted in Manu Bhaker’s elimination.

At the Olympics 2021, women’s 25m pistol was her third and last opportunity to win that elusive medal. The teenage shooting sensation was also a bit unfortunate this time around, in her other individual event.

#2 Rahi Sarnobat faltered under pressure:

World No.2 Rahi Sarnobat has been in phenomenal form this year. She won the silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, India. She did even better at the ISSF World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, when she stood atop the podium.

In the precision round yesterday, she shot 96, 97, 94 in the three rounds. Today, she backed it up with 96, 94, 96 in three rounds of the rapid-fire stage. She did produce the desired inner ten’s today but it was separated by a few mis-hits of 6, 7 and 8.

She was seen as one of the favorites to win an Olympic medal at Tokyo 2021. She had the experience of competing at the Olympics before (In London 2012). However, she couldn’t perform under the burden of expectations in Tokyo this year.

#3 End of the campaign for the pistol shooters:

Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker were not the only Indian shooters in contention for an Olympic medal. Other shooters such as Abhishek Verma, Yashaswini Deswal and Rahi Sarnobat were expected to earn podium finishes as well. However, they weren’t up to their usual best at the 2021 Olympics.

Saurabh Chaudhary was the lone pistol shooter who made it into the finals. Manu Bhaker, too, delivered a decent performance in patches. She was definitely capable of doing better than she has done in Tokyo.

The last hope of an Olympic medal rests on the shoulders of the rifle 3-position shooters - Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Sanjeev Rajput in men's and Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant in women's. They will be in action on 31th July, Saturday (Women’s) and on 2nd August, Monday (Men’s).