India open account, two bronze in bank

India had to be content with two bronze medals from the shooting range today, in the men8217;s and women8217;s 10m air rifle event.

India had to be content with two bronze medals from the shooting range today, in the men8217;s and women8217;s 10m air rifle event. Those were also the first medals given away at the 15th Asian Games here.

The scoreline may not suggest so but India8217;s star shooter Gagan Narang could have climbed further up on the podium. The men8217;s 10m air rifle team bronze in the kitty, Gagan, along with Raghunath Padinchare went over to the finals with a clean slate. Things fell apart from there. Gagan8217;s fifth-place finish and Raghunath8217;s eighth place wasn8217;t really a reflection of their abilities.

Gagan had beaten gold winner Tianyou Liu at the Guanzhou World Championships and that could have been an acceptable psychological edge. Also the point that this was Tianyou8217;s first Games level event could have counted for something, vis-a-vis Gagan. And Athens Olympic Games champion Qian Zhu 8212; the silver winner 8212; was coming in at fifth from the qualifiers, two slots behind Gagan. One had to keep in mind, though, that Zhu had 702.7 at Athens for the gold.

8220;I think I was 98 per cent there technically, but only 40-50 per cent psychologically,8221; Gagan told The Indian Express later. 8220;I had the right cheek piece changed so it would make me more comfortable, but I realised I hadn8217;t gotten used to it. My stance was not right and I dared not change it midway, deciding against further experimentation.8221;

The bronze was a god effort, he said, the competition here being almost as strong as it would be at the Olympic Games, but 8220;I missed Abhinav Bindra here. His presence could have changed things for me, we push each other to better results,8221; said Narang. 8220;There are no excuses for this, I will have to learn to peak more than once a year and I believe I will be able to show results.8221;

That was also the line coach Laszlo Szucsak took. 8220;There are no excuses. The range is fine, the weather blustery, though shiny outside does not affect because it8217;s indoors, and we must get up from here,8221; he said.

The final shots by Gagan were 10.1, 10.1, 9.9, 10.2, 9.9, 10.4, 10.6, 10.0, 10.2, 10.0 for an overall total of 696.4, and for Raghunath were 9.8, 9.9, 10.9, 9.8, 10.5, 10.3, 10.4, 10.2, 10.4, 9.7 for a 693.9 overall. Interestingly, it was Raghunath who first shot a 10.9 in the finals, but the momentum was too patchy to show in the overall average. He failed to move up from his eighth position.

Story continues below this ad

Narang also felt that it would now be necessary for India to look at more support staff. 8220;A masseur, for example, is a must, along with the physio. In between events you need to relax, and he can help. And now I feel psychologists should always be there with the team, even during practice. There should be a psychologist for each three-four shooter and not one for the whole bunch. The mind aspect of the sport cannot be overlooked any more.8221;

The women8217;s squad, also secured bronze, but their performance was even more unstable. The star of the team, Shuma Shirur, managed a poor 390 and she was bettered by Avneet Kaur Sidhu 396. Avneet finished fifth in the finals.

Tomorrow the men8217;s trap culminates, with Manavjit Singh Sandhu now at second spot behind Kuwaiti Naser Meqlad on the same score of 70. Mansher Singh, of course is at a low 20 th spot and Anwer Sultan at 10th. In the men8217;s 10 air pistol Ronak Pandit, Deepak Sharma and Samresh Jung will be in fray. A lot is at stake for Jung from this event and in Pandit8217;s youthfulness there is 8220;excitement, especially after today8217;s bronze, even if the tables they have set up are too low.8221;