One of India's biggest medal prospects at the Rio Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, missed out on one by a whisker – 0.5 points to be precise – after finishing fourth in the men's 10m air rifle final on Monday. The 33-year-old had reached the final after finishing the qualification round in seventh position and needed to step up his game if he stood any chance of repeating his heroics at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when he won India's first individual gold medal at the Games.

Bindra started the final poorly with two 9s in the first four shots, but fought back with an incredible 10.7 to boost his rank. However, after shot 6 he had again dropped to seventh position with a score of 60.1. He rose to fourth after shooting a brilliant 10.8 and then two more incredible shots boosted him up to second position, just 0.5 points behind the leader.

Bindra however ended up tied in the third position with Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish, which meant a shoot-off would determine who would contest for a medal. Bindra shot 10, while Kulish hit 10.5 to send the Indian packing. Kulish went on to take the silver medal, while Italian Niccolo Campriani won gold and Russian Vladimir Maslennikov got the bronze.