Rohan Chowdhury in Chateauroux
Hopes were high of India getting their first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics from the shooting venue at Chateauroux.
The mixed 10m Air Rifle event had two Indian teams – Ramita Jindal-Arjun Babuta (Team 1) and Elavenil Valarivan-Sandeep Singh (Team 2). Jindal and Babuta’s team finished 6th with 628.7, a point behind fourth-placed Germany who had 629.7. Sandeep and Valarivan didn’t make the top 10, and were placed 12th with 626.3.
Both the teams started slow and it seemed that around 20 shots were left in the last 10 minutes. “It’s that we need a little time settling down at the start,” said Ramita afterwards. “We trained both ways – fast approach and the slow one. We start a bit slow and then try to get faster towards the end. It’s not that difficult to shoot 15-20 shots in 10 minutes.”
The shooters did well with average 10.1-10.2, and it was a matter of one point to qualify for the bronze-medal match. “I was not focusing on the scores and tried to do our best,” said Ramita.
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Her partner, Babuta, was disheartened by missing out on the medal round by such a fine margin. “We have been doing good,” he said. “It feels sad to be missing out by such a close margin.
“Today was not our best in terms of score but we gave our hundred per cent.”
Was the ‘Olympics’ tag an added pressure that made the difference? “No, I think it’s the same sport, same me and the same gun,” said Babuta. “It was just not our day.”
Ramita and Valarivan will take part in 10m Women’s Air Rifle, while Babuta and Sandeep will take part in the the men’s event in the same category on Sunday, July 28.
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