India's biggest medal hope Jitu Rai got a wake-up call when he finished eighth in the finals as the much-fancied shooters drew a blank in the pistol events at the Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, on Sunday.
India has now picked up a dozen gold medals in the competition with four days remaining.
A few Indian stars will have to go through the disappointment of watching all the action from afar.
Saurabh Chaudhary shot 16 in the gold medal contest to finish ahead of Germany's Michael Schwald (6).
It was also Patil's second senior world championship gold in his very first outing, having won the individual 10m air rifle event earlier.
India has also picked up one Paris 2024 Olympics quota place after Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil stunned a high-quality field on Friday, to become the 10 air rifle men's world champion.
Check out the Indian athletes' schedule at the Games on Tuesday, July 27.
India clinch both ISSF President's Trophies
The onus will be on Manu Bhaker, Yashaswini Singh Deswal in women's 10m air pistol, and the men's 10m air rifle duo of Divyansh Singh Panwar and Deepak Kumar to bring India success on the second day of shooting event at Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
India wrapped up their shooting assignment at the 24th Deaflympics in Caxais do Sul, Brazil, by finishing in second place with three gold and two bronze medals.
Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis won the 10m P6 air pistol mixed team event to clinch India's third gold medal at the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in Chateauroux, France on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, teammate Udhayveer Sidhu also made it to the ranking matches but finished fourth to be eliminated. He was seventh in qualification with a score of 569.
'To win the Olympic gold medal, I have been really working really hard for the past five years now, and it has always been my dream.'
World No 1 Elavenil Valarivan was on Sunday included in a 15-member Indian shooting contingent for the Tokyo Olympics at the expense of quota winner Chinki Yadav, who had claimed a gold in the Delhi World Cup last month.
India's Sanjeev Rajput and Shahzar Rizvi won 10m air rifle and air pistol event finals respectively in the second International Online Shooting Championship on Saturday. The competitors logged in through Zoom app from their respective locations and shot using their Electronic Shooting Targets.
The 19-year-old Narwal fired a total score of 218.2, a Paralympic record, to claim the yellow metal while Adana, who won bronze in the P1 men's 10m air pistol SH1 event on Tuesday, added a silver to his kitty with an effort of 216.7.
India's tally in the premier tournament is 32 medals, including 12 gold, eight silver and 12 bronze.
Bhaker shot 290 in the Rapid fire stage in qualification for a total of 582, a day after scoring 290 in precision, at the Akasa Shooting Range, while the more experienced Sarnobat scored 573 (287+286).
A spokesperson of CD Projekt, the company behind the video game, dug out a 2018 photograph of the shooter in a Witcher-themed shirt, praising her "years-long commitment to the Witcher universe".
India's shooter Rahi Sarnobat claimed the silver medal after enduring a weapon malfunction in the women's 25m pistol event of the President's Cup in Wroclaw, Poland on Tuesday.
India also bagged three 2024 Paris Olympic quotas while they had won two Tokyo Games quota places from the Changwon worlds.
India opened its medal account with a gold each in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed and 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team events on the third day of competitions at the ISSF Shooting World Cup.
The 20-year-old Lekhara has already won the R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 gold with a world record effort on Day 1, and ensured India a quota for Paris 2024 Paralympics Games.
Beijing Olympics champion Abhinav Bindra was a distinct class above the rest of the field as he won his first individual gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Friday. Unheralded 16-year-old Malaika Goel gave India its first shooting medal, winning a silver in the women's 10m Air Pistol event.
The first gold medal of the competition went to Italy's Danilo Sollazzo in the men's 10m Air Rifle, beating Slovakia's Patrik Jany 16-14. Jani is a Tokyo Olympics finalist. Czech Republic's Jiri Privratsky won bronze.
The team will be accompanied by six coaches -- Deepali Deshpande, Samaresh Jung, Manoj Kumar, DS Chandel, Ronak Pandit and Ved Prakash -- and two physios.
Then, in the 10m air pistol mixed team competitions, India's top pair comprising Manu Bhaker and Chaudhary too came overall second among 43 pairs, shooting a combined score of 580 out of a possible 600.
P V Sindhu won the ESPN's 'Female Sportsperson of the Year' award while young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category.
The four medals swelled India's tally to 20 medals including nine gold, three silver and eight bronze medals, in second place behind China, who have 18 gold for a grand total of 37 medals.
A dominant India claimed both the gold medals on offer by some distance in the men's and women's 10m air pistol team events on the third competition day of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun stage, in New Delhi, on Sunday.
A summary of Indian athletes' showing atthe Olympic Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
If only the shooters had found their targets, the story would have been so different! sighs Raj Kishore Mishra.
Abhishek Verma secured India's fifth Olympic quota place in shooting after winning the 10m air pistol gold medal at the ISSF World Cup, in Beijing, on Saturday. Participating in his maiden International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup final, the Indian led the field throughout the men's 10m air pistol final to clinch the top spot with a total score of 242.7.
In the other highlight of the day, all three Indians made it through their elimination relays in the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) competition, which has four Paris 2024 Olympics quota places at stake.
Participating in the continental tournament as guest invitee, the Indians only shot in the MQS section, and hence, their scores were not considered for medals.
Pistol sensation Manu Bhaker continued her terrific run of form, again claiming the individual as well as the team gold medal, while Gaurav Rana bagged a silver, as Indian shooters set the stage ablaze in the ISSF Junior World Cup, in Sydney, on Saturday.
Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and young Mehuli Ghosh failed to make the Indian shooting squad for the upcoming Asian Games, even as a few unheralded faces were picked for the quadrennial extravaganza, starting in Indonesia, from August 18.
The 17-year-old World Cup gold-medallist shot 244.5 to finish second on the podium behind North Korea's Kim Song Guk.
Deswal shot 238.8 to comfortably finish on top of the podium in the eight-women final while Bhaker managed 236.7 to settle for the silver medal.
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