Paris Olympics: Manu-Sarabjot to play for bronze in 10 m air pistol mixed team event

PARIS: India's shooting campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024 received another positive as the pair of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh finished in the third spot in the 10 m air pistol mixed team qualification on Monday, hence securing a place in the bronze medal match. Manu-Sarabjot, who secured 580-20x points in total to finish third, will be taking on fourth-placed South Korea who shot 579-18x points. The gold medal match will take place between Turkiye (582-18x) and Serbia (581-24x). Rhythm Sangwan and Arjun Singh Cheema finished at the 10th spot and hence missed out on the medal match.

In the qualification round of the mixed team 10 m air pistol event, each member of a team got to shoot a total of 30 shots in a time span of 30 minutes. Each series of shots consists of 10 shots per player and 20 in total. The top four teams got the privilege of qualifying for medal rounds, with the top two teams playing for gold and third and fourth-placed teams locking horns for bronze.

The team of Rhythm and Cheema got the fifth position at the end of their first series of shots, with 194 points. Both players secured 97 points each. The other team, Manu-Sarabjot, sat at six with 193 points, with Manu getting 98 points and Sarabjot getting 95. In their second series, Manu and Sarabjot secured a total of 195 points, with Manu getting 98 and Sarabjot getting 97.

On the other hand, Rhythm and Cheema scored 192 points in their second series, with Rhythm getting 99 and Cheema getting 93. In their third series, Manu-Sarabjot secured 192 points, with Manu getting 95 points and Sarabjot getting 97 points. On the other hand, Rhythm and Cheema got 190 points, with 92 points going to Rhythm and 98 to Cheema.

At the end of all three series, Manu-Sarabjot had the final score of 580-20x and Rhythm-Cheema had a combined score of 576-14x, but they finished in the 10th spot. Notably, Bhaker finished third to secure a bronze medal in the final of the women's 10-m air pistol event on Sunday. She became the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympics. Bhaker brought India's first medal in the ongoing mega event as she won a bronze medal with a score of 221.7. It was a redemption arc for Manu after her pistol malfunctioned at the Tokyo Olympics. She made history by becoming the first Indian woman in 20 years to reach a shooting final in an individual event of the Olympics since Suma Shirur in 2004. South Korea's Ye Jin clinched the gold medal with an Olympic record of 243.2 points. Her compatriot, Kim Yeji, settled for silver with 241.3 points.