Ayonika Paul, India’s dynamic shooter clinched Olympic quota when she won the silver medal in women’s 10m air rifle event in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers competition on Friday. On the other hand, Pooja Ghatkar missed her ticket to Rio.
Ayonika began the final not in the way she would have wanted, only shooting 9.6 but it looked good for Pooja who shot 10.7. It was a neck-to-neck battle between Ayonika and Pooja. The 23-year-old Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ayonika finished on the podium after she shot 205.9 in the eight-woman final, same as gold medallist Najmeh Khedmati of Iran, but lost out on the top prize as she managed 9.9 to the Iranian’s 10.1 in the shoot-off.
Pooja recorded 184.5 after leading the field till the 17th shot. An 8.8 in the 18th attempt proved to be her undoing on day three of competition in the continent’s last quota event for Rio.
In the men’s 50m pistol, Omkar Singh could not make the podium as he finished fifth after shooting 147.0 in the final.
After the 40 shot qualifying round, Ayonika shot 416.6 to be placed third and Pooja shot 415.6 to finish sixth. Both entered the eight-woman final round, which comprised of 20 shots and shooters start getting eliminated after the 8th shot onwards.