Lacklustre Narang, Chain bite the dust

 India’s tale of woes in the Olympic Shooting Centre continued as both their shooters on view in the 50M rifle prone event on Friday failed to progress into the medal round.

Gagan Narang, the London 2012 bronze medallist in 10M air rifle, was 13th with 623.1, missing the final by 1.7 points. His compatriot Chain Singh fared worse, ending 36th with 619.6.

Narang, who was 23rd in the air rifle here, was looking to redeem himself with a better showing in prone. But that was not to be as two slightly below par series nailed his chances of making into the top eight.

The Hyderabadi had series of 104.7, 104.4 and 104.6 before the fourth series set him back. He fired a 103 but recovered with a 104 in the next series before another slump sealed his fate – a 102.4 in the sixth. He was in top eight till that point.

Chain, who was laid low by an illness during a training trip to Switzerland prior to arriving in Rio, sparkled in patches. He had a series of 104.1, 101.0, 104.4, 102.4, 103.9 and 103.8.

The two Indians will compete in 50M three positions now.
India had hopes of winning at least two medals in shooting but with most of the leading contenders having missed the mark, it looks like the country will have to return empty handed from the range this time.

Sergiy Kamensky of Russia topped the qualifying phase with a 629, followed by compatriot Kirill Grigoryan with a 628.9 but those standings were turned upside down in the final as Henri Junghaenel of Germany emerged the champion.

Junghaenel defeated Kim Jonghyun of South Korea in the final, scoring 209.5 points to the latter’s 208.2. Grigoryan was third with 187.3.

Results: Men’s 50M 3-prone: Henri Junghaenel (Germany) 209.5 points, 1; Kim Jonghyun (South Korea) 208.2, 2; Kirill Grigoryan (Russia) 187.3, 3.