"I overthought that it is a big competition" - Sift Kaur Samra after failing to qualify for the medal round at the Paris Olympics

The sixth day of the Paris Olympics began with heartwarming news for Indian fans. Swapnil Kusale made history by becoming the first Indian shooter to win a medal in the men's 50-meter rifle 3 positions. This augmented India's medal tally to three, with all three medals coming from the discipline of shooting.

A little over an hour later, the women's competition for the same event began. India's Sift Kaur Samra and Anjum Moudgil were competing in it. Needless to say, following Kusale's triumph, the bar of expectations had risen. However, the results were disappointing. Both shooters failed to qualify for the finals.

Despondency manifested in Samra's words too when she spoke to All India Radio after the event.

"Currently, the mood is bad. But it will be alright after some time. No worries." she said.

The expectations from Samra, in particular, were high. Less than a year ago, she had won gold in the same event at the Asian Games, while also shattering the world record for the highest score in the finals.

However, she could not replicate her performance at the Olympics. Samra found it difficult to point a finger at the exact reason for the dip in performance.

"When I’ll understand it myself, I’ll let you know. But I think firstly there was wind, so it was a bit (challenging) for me to tackle it. And I think I overthought a little that it is a big competition. These are the two (reasons) I feel," she said.

Dealing with failures is part and parcel of an athlete's life. Samra understands it better than most people.

"It is just that I wanted to give my best but it did not work out today," Samra added. "But it is okay. What can we do? Now it is done."

She rather sees this as a setback and a learning curve. The 22-year-old already has her eyes set on the next Olympics.

"Yes, first Olympics. Lets see what happens in the next one." she said.

The next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.

Sift Kaur Samra finished 31st out of 32 shooters

In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, shooters must aim at a target that is only about 15 centimeters in diameter. In other words, to score a 10, a shooter is effectively aiming at a target the size of a belly button from a distance as far as two-and-a-half cricket pitches placed end to end.

In this particular event, the shooters aim at the target in three different positions, one by one. The first is the kneeling position, the second is the prone position, i.e., lying on your stomach and the third is the standing position.

Samra's performance was marred with inconsistency. Her first shot, in the kneeling position, was a 9. She then struggled to string together multiple shots of 10. At the Olympic level, the margin for error is tiny.

She did make a strong comeback in the second round. In the first series of the prone position round, Samra scored 99. Nine of her ten shots had hit 10s. However, she could not yield the same returns in the remaining series.

In the standing position, she hit ten consecutive 9s and ended up with a total score of 575 from 60 shots. Samra finished 31st in 32 shooters, failing to qualify for the finals.