Mixed results in Shooting as Joydeep qualifies but Narang crashes out

After the bitter disappointment of Ronjan Sodhi’s failure to even qualify for the final round in the double trap event, it was time for the country to turn back to its only hero of the London Games to deliver once again. Gagan Narang took part in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone event along with Joydeep Karmakar. After the failure in the double trap event, one was loath to expect a podium finish but then this was Gagan Narang. He had already won a bronze and he would definitely be full of confidence which would bode well for the country’s chances. While Joydeep was also representing India in the event, the nation’s focus would be completely centred on Narang. This can only be good for Joydeep as he would be able to perform without the extra pressure.

The 50m Rifle Prone has one qualification stage in which the shooters had 60 shots to fire. The top 8 shooters in the qualification stage would enter the final round. There was stiff competition in this event and Narang did not have as clear an edge as was the case in the 10m Pistol event. His qualification score of 596/600 was lesser than many of the other shooters. Joydeep had the same score as well. But the main concern going into the event was that Gagan was suffering a neck injury, when he pulled a muscle during his bronze medal outing in the 10m Pistol event. Since the neck, along with the knees and the back, was an important part while participating in the event and so it was a concern.

Both started later than most shooters in the qualification stage. While Joydeep kept hitting the 10’s consistently in the opening rounds of shots, Narang missed 2 and hit 9’s. That put early pressure on him as he could not afford to miss any more 10’s. Traditionally, a score of 597/600 was needed to have any chance of qualifying to the finals. But the pressure got to him and he kept missing the 10’s as the rounds progressed. Simultaneously, Joydeep also dropped a couple of 10’s and shot only 9’s placing them very low in the standings.

As the rounds progressed, there was no sign of any comeback from both the Indian’s and at the same time, the other shooters did not make any mistakes to give the pair a hope. Narang, uncharacteristically, missed 7 shots to get the score to 593/600, which put his standing at 18. Joydeep held it together and missed only 5 shots to finish at 595/600. At one stage, it did not look as if he would not be in the reckoning for the finals. But luckily, the other shooters missed a few as well and in the end, there were 9 shooters who finished with the same score and were tied at 4th place.

Joydeep had another chance to make it to the final round. It was imperative that he not miss in the shoot off so that it would give him a chance at finishing on the podium and make history. There were 9 shooters in the shoot off, vying for 5 places in the final round. The field included the likes of Niccolo Campriani, who had beaten Gagan Narang to the silver in the 10m Pistol. The shooters would have 5 shots to fire and the top 5 would join the already qualified 3.

Joydeep started with a poor 9.9 but then came back strongly to finish with a score of 51.6, which put him in a joint 4th position. It was enough for him to qualify to the final round in 7th place. While the qualification scores would be added to the final score, Joydeep might still be able to pull of a brilliant show and get us another medal in Shooting!