Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Technical snag costs Manu Bhaker final spot
Shooting ace Manu Bhaker narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals of the women's 10m air pistol event in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Sunday. It is understood that the 19-year-old faced a "circuit malfunction" after making an impressive start. Due to this technical snag, Manu lost more than five minutes, which disturbed her rhythm. Here are further details.
As per a report in The Indian Express, Bhaker's father Ramkishan Bhaker, as well as a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), said that the electronic trigger of Manu's pistol had "suffered a circuit malfunction" in the middle of the second series of the qualification.
Although Manu returned to the firing point after the issue was fixed, she lost her momentum. She followed her opening of 98 by 95, 94 and a 95, which saw her drop out of the top-10. Manu recovered well to shoot 98 in the 5th series but was still behind. She finally finished 12th with a score of 575 in the qualification stage.
Yashaswini Deswal, who is the top-ranked pistol shooter in the world, finished at the 13th sport with 574 points. Notably, France's Celine Goberville claimed the final qualification spot with a score of 577 and 15X. Manu needed an X in her final shot, however, the 19-year-old shot an 8 that eventually knocked her out of the competition.
Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu, who has represented India at two Olympics, slammed Manu's detractors, who targeted her for the loss. "For all d people who are quick to judge that Manu succumbed to pressure. I just got to know what happened to her equipment in detail n how much time she lost. She didn't succumb to pressure she rose to it," tweeted Heena.
In another tweet, Heena, praising Manu wrote, "She was so close that if that last shot was an inner 10 she would have been in the finals even after going through a complete weapon breakdown in between the match." "Stop judging athletes on numbers coz maybe that's the only thing u can understand. Start understanding Performance," she added.
