Shooting: Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Deswal fail to qualify for Tokyo Olympics 10m Air Pistol final
Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Deswal have failed to qualify for the medal round of women's 10m Air Pistol event. Bhaker finished two points short of qualification at 12th, while Deswal finished a position below, falling three points short.
Bhaker, who was seen as one of the strongest medal hopes in shooting, had some technical glitch which delayed her finish in the qualification event. After brief hiccups in the third and fourth series, Bhaker made an excellent comeback in the fifth where she scored 98/100, but couldn't repeat the performance in the sixth.
The 19-year-old Manu, ranked number two in the world, was pegged back by a glitch involving her gun after an impressive start which saw her take one of the places in the top eight.
An opening of 98 was followed by 95, 94 and a 95 as the young shooter dropped out of the top-10.
With a 98, the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist tried to stage a comeback of sorts in the fifth series, but caved in under pressure in a poor final series, which saw her register one 8 and three 9s, leaving Frenchwoman Celine Goberville to bag the eighth and last qualifying spot.
Needing three consecutive perfect 10s to stay alive for contention, Bhaker shot in 8th in her final attempt to bow out of the event.
Deswal, meanwhile, remained inconsistent throughout the whole qualification round, switching between 9s and 10s on most occasions. She, thus., couldn't pose a significant challenge to the top guns, bowing out in 13th place with scores of 94, 98, 94, 97, 96 and 95 for an aggregate of 574.
