Heena adds to shooters' woes

Pistol shooter fails to qualify for the final; Mengxue triumphs

The disappointment on Heena Sidhu’s face captured the tale of another poor day for India at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

Heena, competing in the women’s 10M air pistol, could not even enter the final after an unimpressive display in the qualifying phase as India remained medal-less after two days of competition.

She ended 14th after managing just 380 in the qualifying round, four points behind the final qualifier. A former world number one and a world record holder for final score, Heena was 12th at the London Olympics four years ago after shooting 382.

On this day, she was far from her best. The 26-year-old started in shaky manner and a 94 in the first series pushed her back so firmly that a recovery became a tough proposition.

Heena improved only marginally in the second series, firing a 95. She remained in that range in the next two series as well, a 96 and a 95 sending her spiralling down the order.

Heena had shot a superb 387 in the Asian Olympic qualifiers in New Delhi back in January to earn the Olympic quota but that performance seemed a distant dream on the day. Heena has one more event to shoot here, the 25M sport pistol.

China’s Zhang Mengxue won the gold defeating Vitalina Batsarashkina of Russia in the final, giving a perfect birthday gift for her mother.

Zhang shot a Final Olympic Record of 199.4 points to defeat Batarashkina who tallied 197.1. Anna Korakaki of Greece took the bronze at 177.7.

“Winning at the Olympic Games was my goal since I was young. Now I have the medal,” said an excited Zhang. “I am so thrilled, I am still feeling the competition, I am still in that mood but I was very calm in the final, because the qualification was very tough for me,” she said.

It was a remarkable comeback by Zhang as she made full use of the current rules that don’t take qualification scores into consideration in the final. She only qualified in seventh place with 384.

Batarashkina had qualified for the final in first position after an excellent 390 while another Russian, Ekaterina Korshunova, was in second place in the qualifying with 387. Korshunova eventually ended up eighth.

In trap, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai were placed 17th and 19th after the first day of qualifications. Manavjit shot 68 and Kynan 67 out of 75 targets. Another 50 targets are up on day two before the final.

Results: Women’s 10M air pistol: Zhang Mengxue (China) 199.4, 1; Vitalina Batarashkina (Russia) 197.1, 2; Anna Korakaki (Greece) 177.7, 3.