India's Tokyo Olympics bout opened as a mixed bag, with India's archers advancing to the quarterfinals, while medal hopeful shooters were knocked out in qualification rounds.
In a nailbiter, Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Pravin Jadhav bounced back after falling behind to book a quarterfinal berth in the archery mixed team event. In a less than optimal start, India had fallen behind, trailing 1-3 after loss in first set. Jadhav and Kumari then bounced back to tie the second set (win is 2 points; tied set gives both teams 1 point). The duo then shot a perfect third set to take the match to the fourth and final set. After faltering at the start of set four, India needed 19 points of the last two shots to tie Chinese Taipei's score. Both Jadhav and Kumari scored 10s to hand India the win.
India’s chance to open its medal tally at the first medal event of the Tokyo Olympics—the women’s 10m air rifle—ended in disappointment as big guns Apurvi Chandela and Elavenil Valarivan were knocked out in the qualification round of the event. Chandela, a world record holder, finished 36th among the 50 shooters in contention, while world No 1 Elavenil Valarivan ended the round placed 16th. Both of them were in contention for a medal from the record 15-member contingent from India. A total of 60 shots are fired in the qualification round of the 10m air rifle within 75 minutes, with 10.9 being the perfect shot. In the final, 24 shots are fired, with one shooter being eliminated every two shots after the initial 12 shots, until a winner is decided.
Jeanette Hegg Duestad of Norway looked on course to set a new world record in the qualification record and outdo the current record of 634, but she fell just short of it after shooting 632.9. Valarivan had a score of 626.5 and Chandela 621.9. Chandela, 28, and Valarivan ,21, had dominated the women’s air rifle event until the start of this season, but seemed off colour in the run up to the Games. Both of them had missed out on qualifying for the final of the ISSF World Cup, although Valarivan went on to win gold in the mixed event with Divyansh Panwar. Valarivan has one more event to go. She will be seen in action next in the mixed event with Panwar on July 26.
This will be followed by the men's 10m air pistol qualification and the final with Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma in action. The qualification round starts at 9:30am IST and, should they qualify, the final will be held at 12pm IST. In the men's 10m air pistol, Chaudhary and Verma have been two of the most dominant shooters in the world over the past three years, but the smaller 36-man field comprises some of the greatest names in this discipline, led by the biggest of them all, the inimitable Korean Jin Jong-oh, and China's Pang Wei.
-Inputs from Karthik Ravindranath, Reuben Joe Joseph
