For a brief while, after the tenth shot to be precise, Abhinav Bindra was in the lead. Two shots later, he was pushed to fourth.
Shooting has rarely been a spectator sport but at the Ongnyeon International Range here on Tuesday, there were many who were biting their nails off during the 10m air rifle finals.
Things only got hotter as the best eight shooters got on to the home stretch in the 20-shot finals.
After the mediocre 9.6 in the 12th round, Bindra continued to languish in the fourth spot and was on the verge of elimination after the next but Iranian Pourya Norouziyan, who was in the bronze position till then, lost his touch when it mattered the most and produced a shocking 9.6 which sent him out.
While there was heartbreak for the Iranian, there was joy for Bindra and India.
Keeps his cool
The Indian kept his cool at this stage, pulled out a 10.7, which fetched the 2008 Olympic champion his first individual medal of the Asian Games, to add to the team bronze he won earlier in the day along with Ravi Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput. His long wait for an individual medal at the Continental Games, which is as strong as the World Championship, was now over with the bronze.
He must be really relieved. “There’s no relief, I did a good job. Relief is not the emotion at the moment.
“I’m just happy. I think I shot very well in the final, I shot very well in the competition, I worked very hard and I had a fine day,” said the 31-year-old.
Was he disappointed that the gold, which was within his reach briefly, slipped away?
“In shooting, there’s nothing within the reach. It has to happen.
“Shooting is a sport where nothing is won till the end. I’m absolutely delighted with what I’ve done here.”
Bindra had won the 10m air rifle team event at the last Asiad in Guangzhou.
China’s World champion Yang Haoran won the 10m air rifle individual gold while his teammate Cao Yifei took the silver.
The results:
Men : 10m air rifle: 1. Yang Haoran (Chn) 209.6 (629.2); 2. Cao Yifei (Chn) 208.9 (630.7); 3. Abhinav Bindra 187.1 (625.4); 20. Ravi Kumar 618.9; 21. Sanjeev Rajput 618.7. Team: 1. China 1886.4; 2. Korea 1867.6; 3. India 1863.0.
Women: Trap: 1. Zhu Jingyu (Chn) 12(2) 13 (70); 2. Yukie Nakayama (Jpn) 12(1) 15 (69); 3. Chattaya Kitcharoen (Tha) 10(1) 11 (68); 4. Anastassiya Davydova (Kaz) 10(0) 11 (71); 9. Shreyasi Singh 66; 17. Seema Tomar 63; 30. Shagun Chowdhary 59.
Team : 1. Kazakhstan 203; 2. China 199; 3. Korea 198; 8. India 188.