NEW DELHI: India added another team silver to their medal tally at the ISSF World Championships in Doha on Thursday, but the wait for an individual medal and a coveted 2028 Los Angeles Olympics quota continued after Manu Bhaker and Suruchi Inder Singh faltered in the women’s 10m air pistol final.The two Indian shooters, who had qualified for the eight-shooter final, finished outside the medal positions. Double Olympic bronze medallist Manu placed fifth with 179.9 points, while Suruchi, an Asian Games mixed team gold medallist, was sixth with 158.3.China’s Jiang Ranxin clinched the gold medal with 242.4 points, narrowly edging compatriot Yao Qianxun, who took silver with 242.1. Hungary’s Veronika Major completed the podium with 222.1. All three medallists also secured quota places for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, leaving the Indian duo without a ticket to the Games.
Manu, Suruchi unable to capitalise on final spots
Manu struggled to find consistency in the final, with her scores fluctuating between 8.8 and 10.7. The 24-year-old was eliminated after the 18th shot, ending her hopes of adding a World Championships individual medal to her impressive collection.Suruchi also endured a difficult final, with a series of shots in the 8s and 9s proving costly. She bowed out after the 16th shot, bringing India’s challenge in the individual event to an end.Both had shown enough in qualification to raise hopes of a strong finish. Manu recovered from a modest start, shooting 95 in each of her first two series before producing scores of 98, 100, 96 and 99 to finish third with 583 points.Suruchi secured the eighth and final spot with 580. She shot 97, 95, 96, 97, 97 and 98 across her six series to scrape into the final. China’s Jiang topped qualification with 585, while India’s third entrant, Sainyam, finished 22nd with 575.
Team silver offers consolation, but no Olympic quota
There was some consolation for India as Manu, Suruchi and Sainyam combined to secure the silver medal in the team event with an aggregate of 1,738 points. China won gold with 1,745.The team standings were determined by the combined qualification scores of the three shooters from each country. Sainyam’s contribution proved important in India’s podium finish, even though she missed out on the individual final.However, the team silver does not carry an Olympic quota. The Doha World Championships are the first major shooting competition offering individual quota places for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, making the missed opportunity particularly significant for India.Despite adding another team medal to their campaign, Indian shooters are yet to win an individual medal or secure a quota place in an Olympic discipline at the championships. Manu and Suruchi’s disappointing finishes have therefore extended India’s wait for a breakthrough in the individual events.
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