India had a mixed day at the
Beijing Olympics with medal favourite tennis stars Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi and boxers emerging victorious while shooters and archers faltering on day-4.
The heartbreak for the Indian camp today was the failure of Athens Olympics silver medalist shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Commonwealth Games hero Samresh Jung failed to carry on the momentum set by Bindra who was present at the Beijing Shooting Range and lost in the qualifying round of their respective events. double trap and 50 meter pistol.
Added to the woes was the end of Indian women's quest for medal in archery with Dola Banerjee Bombayla Devi and Parinita Vardhineni making their exit from the individual events. This came after the trio had already been ousted from team event.
A rusty Rathore struggled to read targets and shot 131, which was just not enough to reach the business end of the event to stay in medal hunt.
Top six shooters made it to the final event from the 19-man field, which had Rathore placed 15th overall with 131 points.
Nothing went right for the Armyman, from whom much was expected after his performance in the previous edition of the Games, right from the beginning when he shot 43 in the first round before managing 45 in the second.
An exceptional third round could have seen him through and Rathore began well too as he shot down the first eight pair of birds. But he ran into a wretched stretch midway through the round, throwing his bid in complete disarray.
A shattered Rathore fought hard to hold back tears and hinted at calling it a day.
Posted by Mohan Sehgal
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