India’s Apurvi Chandela bowed out of the women’s 10m air rifle final on Monday, after being the fourth to be eliminated with a total score of 186. This was her second final of the ongoing Asian Games, after winning the mixed team bronze on Sunday with Ravi Kumar.
In her final series of shots, she scored a superb 10.8 under pressure but a 10.9 from Korea’s Jung Eunhea meant that they were tied. In what was essentially a shootout, she shot a below-par 9.8 which brought her down to the fifth position, and scores of above 10 from her opponents saw her go out.
Earlier, she had qualified for the final in second position with a score of total score of 629.4 with only China’s eventual gold medallist Ruozhu Zhao, who scored an Asian Games record 631.9 points, ahead of her. India’s second contender, 18-year-old Elavenil Valarivan finished 14th with a total of 620.8.
The seasoned shooter from Rajasthan started the first series with a with 9.6, but climbed up the ranks with a good string of scores in the next four shots – 10.3, 10.7, 10.5, 10.1. With 51.2 she was placed fifth, with a difference of 0.4 between her and Jung.
After the second series, she scored 10.6, 10.4, 10.6, 9.9, 10.4, to climb up to the third spot.
She maintained a supreme consistency from then on with a series of 10.2, 10.7, 10.1 10.6, 10.0, 10.7 and 10.8 as the eliminations were in progress. She shuttled between the third and fourth spot in the constantly fluctuating final.
However, in the fiercely competitive field, one poor shot can make all the difference and that is what happened when she shot a 9.8 to end her Asian Games campaign.
China’s Zhao won the gold with another Games record of 250.9, Jung took the silver while Mongolia’s Nandinzaya Gankhuyag took home the bronze.
Despite the narrow miss in the individual event, Chandela will go home with the mixed team bronze that opened India’s medal tally.