India's Struggles in Shooting Continue at Paris Olympics

India's shooting campaign at the Paris Olympics faced setbacks as Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema failed to advance in the men's 10 m air pistol event. Both shooters missed the final eight, marking another disappointment following the underperformance in the mixed team air rifle qualifying rounds.

India's disappointing run in shooting continued at the Paris Olympics with Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema failing to advance to the final round of the men's 10 m air pistol competition on Saturday. Cheema (18th spot with 574-17x points) and Sarabjot (9th spot with 577-16x points) could not secure a place among the final eight contenders for the medal round.

During the qualification round for the 10 m air pistol men's competition, competitors were given 60 shots within 75 minutes. Only eight of the 33 participants advanced to the final round set for Sunday. After the first series of shots, Cheema ranked 12th with 96 points, while Sarabjot stood at 28th with 94 points.

In the second series, Cheema climbed to 10th spot with perfect 10s in his last five shots, scoring 97. Sarabjot matched him with 97 points, also reaching the 10th spot. However, Sarabjot dropped to 17th place after the third series, while Cheema rose to fourth. Sarabjot rebounded to third with a flawless fourth series, but Cheema fell to 14th. Ultimately, both struggled in their fifth series, finishing far from the top eight--Cheema at 18th and Sarabjot just missing at ninth.

Earlier, India's shooting campaign had setbacks in the 10 m air rifle mixed team event, where the pairs Elavenil Valarivan & Sandeep Singh, and Arjun Babuta & Ramita Jindal, failed to advance. Elavenil and Sandeep scored 626.3 points to finish 12th, while Arjun and Ramita narrowly missed out by one point, finishing sixth.

The 10 m air pistol qualification for India's female shooters, including Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan, will be held later today at 4 pm.

(With inputs from agencies.)