Chateauroux (France): Indian pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka lost the bronze medal in the Skeet Mixed Team event after losing to China’s Yiting Jiang and Jianlin Lyu 43-44 in the Paris Olympics here on Monday.
Anant, the Asian Games silver medallist in individual skeet, and Maheshwari shot perfectly to accumulate 43 in the match but missed some key birds and lost the medal by a whisker as the agony of a fourth-place finish continues to haunt India.
Earlier, the Indian shooters progressed to the bronze medal playoff after finishing fourth in the qualification. The duo shot 146/150 in the 15-team qualification round, where Maheshwari starred with 50/50 in her final two rounds.
Naruka, meanwhile, notched scores of 25, 23 and 24 in the three rounds. In the first round, he scored 25/25 while Maheshwari notched 24/25 to take India’s total to 49, which placed them joint-second with Australia, France, South Korea and two Italian teams.
Anant and Maheshwari scored 23/25 and 25/25, respectively, in the second round, taking the total to 97 to be ranked sixth. In the third round, the Indians shot 25 and 24, respectively, to bounce back into the top four to seal the spot in the medal round.
Anant and Maheshwari failed to add a fourth shooting medal to India’s tally in the Paris Olympics. Till now, all three of India’s bronze medals have been bagged by shooters.
Manu Bhaker won two of the three bronze medals, finishing third in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol Individual round and the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team competition in the company of Sarabjot Singh.
Swapnil Kusale won the third bronze for India in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition.
(IANS)
