Raj Kumari Dodiya came close to clinching the women's rifle 3-position Olympic quota place, but failed to make the final by one point in the Asian shooting championship in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.
Having won the women's prone gold, Raj Kumari had the confidence, but rounds of 193 in prone, 189 in standing and 196 in kneeling did not add up to a clinching total for the 29-year-old who had won the junior bronze in the prone event in the World championship in Lahti in 2002.
No woman rifle shooter
The result meant that India will not have a woman rifle shooter in the Olympics for the first time since Sydney in 2000.
The Chinese won the gold and silver, with World records to boot, but having already won two quota places in the event, they were not eligible to add any more. It suited the Koreans, as the third-placed Jeong Mi Ra and the fifth-placed Jeong Gyungsuk took the Olympic berths along with two-time World champion Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan.
In men's rapid fire pistol, Vijay Kumar who has already won a quota place failed to make the final and finished seventh with a score of 577. Scores of 93 and 94 in the 4-second series put paid to his aspirations of making the final by two points.
Pemba Tamang and Gurpreet Singh also shot 577 and finished eighth and ninth respectively. With the qualification scores getting nullified in the final when the top-six compete for the medals, an Indian shooter could have fancied his chances of winning the second quota place in the event.
As it turned out, the gold and silver medallists, Jang Dae Kyu of Korea and Li Yuehong of China won the two Olympic berths, following qualification scores of 582 and 584 respectively.
The rapid fire event for junior men was a friendly match as the field had only three shooters. Shivraj Sase and Vikrant Ghaisas were placed first and third with scores of 552 and 532 respectively.
The results:
Men: 25m rapid fire pistol: 1. Jang Dae Kyu (Kor) 31 (582); 2. Li Yuehong (Chn) 30 (584); 3. Teruyoshi Akiyama (Jpn) 27 (583); 7. Vijay Kumar 577; 8. Pemba Tamang 577; 9. Gurpreet Singh 577. Team: 1. China 1744; 2. India 1731; 3. Korea 1731.
Women: 50m rifle 3P: 1. Du Li (Chn) 692.1 (594 EWR); 2. Li Peijing (Chn) 688.3 (588); 3. Jeong Mi Ra (Kor) 685.9 (586); 9. Raj Kumari 578; 17. Lajja Gauswami 574; 28. Tejaswini Sawant 570. MQS: Raj Chaudhary 563. Team: 1. China 1766 WR; 2. Korea 1746; 3. Malaysia 1735; 6. India 1722.
