Granada: Gagan Narang missed out on an Olympic quota by just one place as he finished sixth in the finals of 50-metre rifle prone while Prakash Nanjappa and Jitu Rai narrowly missed out on finals of men's 10-metre air pistol in the 51st Shooting World Championships on September 11.
After coming through the tough qualifying, Narang could total only 124.2 by the time the top 5, including the three medallists, were decided in the finals. Five Olympic quotas were on offer in the event. Another Indian, Hariom Singh, could not make it to the finals after finishing 45th in the qualifying. In women's 50-metre rifle 3 position, Lajja Gauswami and veteran Anjali Bhagwat finished lowly 21st and 27th respectively, and could not make the finals.
Rai, who had already sealed a berth in the 2016 Rio Games with his silver medal-winning feat in men's 50-metre pistol event two days ago, failed to qualify in 10-metre air pistol as he was placed 10th in the final qualifying, with Prakash Nanjappa a shade better at ninth at the CEAR Juan Carlos I shooting range. Both shot 181 each but Nanjappa had more X (bull's eye).
Earlier, in the final elimination round of 50-metre rifle prone event, multiple medallist Narang was seventh after aggregating 625.5 with a series of 104.6 104.2 103.4 104.2 105.4 103.7. "I feel quite itchy without competing in my pet air rifle event but I surprised myself too in prone. I was recovering from flu and a throat infection but I shot well in qualifying and it was a very good chance for me to win a medal and the quota place for the 2016 Olympics," Narang said after the event.
"But I am inexperienced in this event and that hurt me in the final. But there are some positives. This was my first World Championship final in the prone. So some positives, but not finishing the job definitely hurts," he added. The Indians had been off to a poor start in the tournament with Beijing Olympic gold winner Abhinav Bindra failing to qualify in his pet event on the opening day of the competitions. A day later though, an in-form Rai shot his way to a silver medal and earned an Olympic quota to bring the cheer back in the Indian contingent. As many as 64 Olympic quotas are on offer in the ongoing championships.
