Semi-fit shooter's last shot yields only eight points as centre-fire pistol team settles for silver
Shooters Pemba Tamang, Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar bagged the silver medal in men's 25 metres centre-fire pistol team finals on Friday.
The result lifted the spirits of the trio, but Kumar looked disappointed with the outcome. He knew he had let his teammates down on the crucial last shot by hitting an eight-pointer instead of the required 10 to win the gold medal.
This was India's best result in shooting after Jitu Rai's gold on the opening day of the Games. The Ongnyeon International Shooting Range witnessed a keen contest among the three countries — India, China and South Korea — on Friday.
India finished with 1740-68x points as China maintained their stronghold with 1742-56x points. Host nation South Korea won the bronze medal with 1739-54x points.
After winning a silver medal in London Games, Kumar has been going through tough times. He flew to Incheon despite being troubled by Cervical spondylosis for which he is set to undergo surgery soon after returning home. This injury (C6 & C7) have affected his performances over the last one year, including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
As a result, he failed to get a ticket to the Asian Games in his pet event, the 25 metres rapid-fire pistol. Despite his request to ignore his CWG scores, National Rifle Association of India refused to give any leeway to this star shooter.
Somehow, he still managed to find an Asiad berth by virtue of his scores at the trials and was hoping to silent his critics with a golden shot.
When asked if that's the only remedy for the injury which has been troubling him since London 2012, Vijay said, "I've been undergoing treatment for my cervical problem for over a year now. Everything has been tried and now, the only option left is to decide whether to undergo surgery or not."
Elsewhere, the Indian women's team comprising Lajja Gauswami, 44-year-old Anjali Bhagwat and Tejaswini Muley finished sixth in the 50 metres rifle three positions team finals.
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