Shooter Manu Bhaker is a hit despite miss

Manu Bhaker

Young Manu Bhaker secured India its seventh Olympic quota in shooting with a fourth-place finish in the women's 10m air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup here yesterday, putting behind the disappointment of pistol malfunction in her earlier event.

While a score of 201.0 in the final got India a quota for the 2020 Tokyo Games, Bhaker, 17, missed out on a medal by the narrowest of margins, trailing reigning Olympic and world champion Anna Korakaki of Greece by a mere 0.1 point at that stage. Bhaker finished third in qualification with a total of 582 points (28 x inner 10s), shooting a solid 98 in her last two rounds.

On Monday, Bhaker suffered a heartbreak as she missed out on the podium after a weapon malfunction saw her slip to fifth spot after leading the field. Yashaswini Singh Deswal, a junior World Cup winner, was also on course to make the final before a poor series of 92 in the final set saw her slip to 22nd with a total of 574.

Heena Sidhu finishes 45th
Heena Sidhu, the third Indian in the fray, was placed 45th with a total of 570. Korakaki and the bronze-winning Korean Kim Minjung were not eligible from the start, having exhausted either their individual or country quotas in earlier competitions.

Bhaker shared the two available quotas with silver-winning Chinese athlete Qian Wei. The gold medal -winning score 241.4, silver was 239.6 while bronze was 220.8. India have now picked up two Olympic quotas from the ongoing World Cup as well as three gold medals to lead the medal tally with a day to go. Meanwhile, Sunidhi Chauhan gave a good account of herself in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event, losing out on a maiden World Cup finals berth on account of lesser inner 10s.

Sunidhi misses final berth
Needing to be among the top eight to make the final, Sunidhi shot a creditable 1175 to tie on points with the sixth, seventh and eight placed shooters before Italy's Petra Zublasing edged her out for the last spot.

India's shooting quotas for Tokyo 2020 so far
. Women's 10m Air Rifle: Two quotas, won by Apurvi Chandela and Anjum Moudgil
. Men's 10m Air Pistol: Two quotas, won by Saurabh Chaudhury and Abhishek Verma
. Men's 10m Air Rifle: 1 quota, won by Divyansh Panwar
. Women's 25m Pistol: 1 quota, won by Rahi Sarnobat
. Women's 10m Air Pistol: 1 quota, won by Manu Bhaker

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