Winning a medal at the Olympics is a tough feat. While speaking of the Indian shooters, they have brought in seven medals across the Olympic Games, with the first coming back in 2004 in Athens from Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. However, there have been some Indian shooters, a few notable ones to be precise, who have narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
The latest shooter to end fourth at the Summer Games is Manu Bhaker, who seemed disappointed with the achievement despite her sparkling Paris Olympics campaign.
In this article, we will look at the Indian shooters who have finished fourth at the Olympics over the years.
#1 Joydeep Karmakar
Hailing from West Bengal and a former Arjun Award winner, Joydeep Karmakar was the first Indian shooter to achieve a fourth position at an Olympic event.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Karmakar narrowly missed out on a medal, when he participated in the men's 50m rifle prone event.
#2 Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Bindra is considered a legend in Indian shooting. To date, he stands strong as India's sole gold medal winner in shooting at the Olympic Games, a feat he established back in the 2008 Beijing Games.
However, eight years later, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bindra failed to achieve a podium finish and ended fourth in the men's 10m air rifle discipline.
#3 Arjun Babuta
After Bindra's fourth-place finish in 2016, the next shooter to do the same was Arjun Babuta, and that too just a few days back at the Paris Olympics.
He started strongly and was a medal hopeful at the men's 10m air rifle final. But he finished fourth with a score of 208.4, narrowly missing out on a medal.
#4 Manu Bhaker
After Manu Bhaker won a bronze in the women's 10m air pistol discipline, the first medal for India in the Paris Olympics, Indian fans raised their expectations. Manu didn't disappoint them. She joined hands with Sarabjot Singh to bring India their second medal at the ongoing Games (in the mixed team 10m air pistol event).
Post the double triumph, when she qualified for the women's 25m air pistol final, fans deemed her as a heavy favorite to salvage yet another medal for India, a feat which would have helped Manu etch her name in history books.
However, despite starting on the front foot, Manu had to bow out after a shoot-off with Hungary's Veronica Major, which saw the latter outwit the Indian. The 22-year-old finished fourth and is the last name on the list.