Jitu Rai stumbles in search for second shooting gold

Jitu Rai, following up on a 50-metre pistol gold on Saturday, finished just fifth in the 10-metre final on Sunday.

Jitu Rai finished fifth in the men's 10-metre individual air pistol at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea on Sunday. Manan Vatsyayana / AFP / September 21, 2014

India’s hopes of a second gold medal through in-form pistol shooter Jitu Rai were dashed after a hasty shot saw him slide down from second position midway into the 10-metre final at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range on Sunday.

“The spectators kept clapping for a long time after a shot from another competitor and I decided to wait for the noise to go down,” Rai said. “But then I suddenly feared I might cross the time limit and took a hurried shot.”

Rai, who won gold in the 50-metre pistol on Saturday with a superb rally toward the end, could only manage a 7.8 on that shot and eventually finished fifth.

“As it is, shooting two days on the trot is not easy and I also had to make do with my spare weapon as the velocity of my original one was not good,” added Rai, who hails from neighbouring country Nepal but is settled in India.

Expectations were high for Rai. Saturday’s medal was his sixth in international competitions since June, counting both 10-metre and 50-metre events.

They include gold at the World Cup and Glasgow Commonwealth Games, making him one of India’s most successful pistol shooters.

Rai did win a bronze in the 10-metre pistol team event along with Samresh Jung and Prakash Nanjappa, which added to his gold and Shweta Chaudhry’s bronze in the women’s 10-metre air pistol on the first day.

Racket sports provided India with some cheer as Sourav Ghoshal and Deepika Pallikal reached the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s individual events, respectively, to ensure at least a bronze each.

Top-seeded Ghoshal, who won individual bronze medals at the previous two Asian Games in Doha and Guangzhou, defeated Iqbal Nasir of Pakistan 11-6, 9-11, 11-2 in the quarter-finals.

Pallikal rallied to get past compatriot Joshna Chinappa 7-11, 11-9, 11-8 and ensured the first women’s medal for India in squash at the Asian Games.

In field hockey, India geared up for Thursday’s match against Pakistan with an 8-0 win over Sri Lanka in the first pool B match.

Rupinderpal Singh pumped in three goals, Ramandeep Singh scored twice, while VR Raghunath, Nikkin Thimmaiah and Chinglensana Kangujam knocked the ball in once each as India got a first taste of the new format that consists of four quarters of 15 minutes, a change from the previous two halves of 35 minutes each.

India, who have only won gold at the Asian Games twice despite their long tradition in hockey, are considered to have a good chance this time as they beat four-time Asiad champions South Korea 3-0 in the World Cup this year while defending champions Pakistan are short of international exposure this year.

Pakistan, who have won the hockey gold eight times, could not qualify for this year’s World Cup and did not send a team to the Commonwealth Games due to a split in their national Olympic body. They also could not send a team to the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia due to a paucity of funds.

But Pakistan have had a more impressive opening as they routed Sri Lanka 14-0 on the opening day Saturday.

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