 "Manu Bhaker enters her first Olympic final, saves India's day in shooting")
A supremely confident Manu Bhaker was at the top of her game as she entered the 10m women's air pistol final, salvaging the day for Indian shooting after an underwhelming start by her compatriots in the Olympic Games here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Bhaker shot 580 to finish third in the qualifications in which Hungarian ace Veronika Major claimed the top spot with a score of 582. The other Indian representative, Rhythm Sangwan, ended 15th with a score of 573. The final will be held on Sunday.
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Reduced to tears following her forgettable outing in her Games debut in Tokyo three years ago, Bhaker is seeking to add an Olympic medal to her very excellent resume.
A prominent shooter, who has gained international recognition for his exploits in the sport form a very young age, Bhaker looked determined to keep the Tokyo memories behind and produced a fine qualification performance.
The Haryana shooter made a bright start with a total of 97 points to take the fourth spot at the end of Series 1.
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Bhaker got a 97 in the second series too and remained in fourth as Sangwan slipped to 26th after a poor outing including an 8. But Bhaker was back in the top two after an excellent 98 in her third series.
Bhaker got an 8 in the fifth series, her first bad shot in an otherwise excellent qualification, but she still remained in the mix and eventually made the final.
Indians bow out in men's 10m air pistol
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Earlier, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema sparkled in patches but could not make the men's 10m air pistol final along with both the 10m air rifle mixed teams in a disappointing start for Indian shooters.
Sarabjot finished ninth with a total score of 577 in the qualifications while Arjun ended way behind at 18th with 574.
Germany's Robin Walter, who also shot 577, grabbed the last (eighth) qualifying spot after managing to shoot one inner 10 (X) more than Sarabjot's 16.
A perfect 100 in the fourth series propelled the 22-year-old Sarabjot into the top-three after a poor start but he failed to sustain the momentum and fizzled out.
Cheema shot 10 perfect 10s off his last 10 shots, which lifted him to the fourth position but he too lost the plot after promising much.
Disappointment in mixed rifle event
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Earlier in the day, Indians were eliminated in the 10m air rifle mixed team qualifications stage.
Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta finished sixth with a total score of 628.7, while Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh ended 12th with an aggregate score of 626.3.
The duo of Ramita and Babuta came close and was placed fifth with three shots remaining but fell 1.0 point short of the medal round cut-off.
Shooters from China, Korea and Kazakhstan dominated the qualifications.
China eventually won the first gold medal of the Games in this event after qualifying as the top team for the finals.