The hopes of Olympic quota places in women's air rifle and men's double trap were dashed as the Indian shooters fell agonisingly short in the Asian shooting championship in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.
Anjali Bhagwat who had competed in the last three Olympics, lost the tie-shoot for a place in the final in women's air rifle along with Ayonika Paul despite an impressive score of 396.
In the shoot-off for four berths among seven, Anjali missed it by 0.5 points, with a qualifying shoot-off score of 50.3. Ayonika was further 0.6 point behind. It was no consolation for the Indian trio with Mampi Das shooting 395, to bag the silver five points behind China.
Windy conditions
In men's double trap, Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who had shot a world record equalling score of 148 out of 150 recently in the Asian Shotgun championship, could not cope with the windy conditions and could muster only 135, the same as compatriot Mohammed Asab. The two missed the qualifying shoot-off for the final by one point, and settled for the eighth and ninth places respectively. The top score in qualification was 139.
Asian Games and World Cup Final gold medallist Ronjan Sodhi, who already has an Olympic quota, was a point behind the two at 134 and was placed 14th. The trio won the bronze medal, behind China and Thailand.
Shayan Masood won the gold in the junior double trap with a score of 123 out of 150, though the event had lost its charm as it had been taken out of the Asian championship for lack of sufficient entries, and was conducted under the banner of the Qatar Shooting Association. Asher Noria and Ankur Mittal shot 120 and 119 respectively.
The results: Air rifle: Women: 1. Yi Siling (Chn) 502.2 (398); 2. Maryam Arzouqi (Kuw) 500.6 (398); 3. Du Li (Chn) 500.4 (398); 9. Anjali Bhagwat 396; 10. Ayonika Paul 396; 12. Mampi Das 395. MQS: Suma Shirur 392; Shruti Bhattepatil 388. Team: 1. China 1192; 2. India 1187; 3. Iran 1185.
Juniors: 1. Cho Eun Young (Kor) 499.0 (398); 2. Lee Yu Ri (Kor) 496.4 (393); 3. Hebah Arzooqi (Kuw) 496.1 (396); 5. Shriyanka Sadangi 494.9 (394); 14. Shalini Chahar 390; 23. Neha Sapte 385. Team: 1. China 1173; 2. India 1169; 3. Kuwait 1167.
Sport pistol: Junior women: 1. Kim Ji Jye (Kor) 788.4 (83); 2. Lu Misoyi (Chn) 785.2 (578); 3. Lin Yuemei (Chn) 775.9 (575); 7. Surabhi Pathak 759.6 (565); 15. Aanchal Rana 548; 18. Oshin Tawani 533. Team: 1. China 1718; 2. Thailand 1680; 3. India 1646.
