The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Narang misses out on a final spot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 18, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Olympic Games

Narang misses out on a final spot

Special Correspondent

BEIJING: Gagan Narang fought brilliantly in the final stretch, but missed out on a spot in the free rifle 3-position final by three points, as the shooting competition concluded in the 29th Olympic Games, with China asserting its supremacy with five gold medals, including the one won on Sunday in a dramatic finish, by Qiu Jian.

After scores of 394 and 389 in the prone and standing series, Gagan slipped out of the top-eight in the kneeling series, to eventually finish 13th among 49 shooters with a total of 1167.

He shot the only 100 in kneeling among all, on the last card after a 97, but it was of no avail as he had lost considerable ground earlier in the series with rounds of 94 and 93.

After the disappointment of missing out on the air rifle final on the count-back after a 595, it was another heart-break for the young marksman who was one of the favourites among the Indians to win a medal, owing to his good form.

Rajput finishes 26th

The other Indian in the fray, Sanjeev Rajput, was 26th with an aggregate of 1162, following rounds of 395, 380 and 387 in prone, standing and kneeling respectively.

The Chinese improved on their performance from the last Games, as they went up from four gold medals to five, thanks to Qiu Jian clinching the 3-position gold on the last shot, and winning by 0.1 point, against Jury Sukhorukov of Ukraine. The Chinese came up with a last shot of 10 to the 9.8 by the Ukrainian.

Actually, the gold was a gift from Matthew Emmons of the U.S., as the leader blew away his chances with a last shot of 4.4, and ended up fourth.

Emmons had shot a total of 1175, the second best behind Rajmond Debevec (1176) of Slovenia in the qualification series and had the gold in his hand till the last shot of the final.

“No. I didn’t expect to win. I didn’t know what had happened. Hearing the spectators cheering, I felt, maybe I got the silver. But my coach told me I got the gold. The gold came to me because Emmons didn’t hold on calmly till the last second, but I did,” said Jian.

Incidentally, Emmons, who won the prone silver earlier, had lost this event in Athens in 2004, when he was all set to take the gold, as he fired his last shot on a wrong target.

Freak incident

“To shoot a 4.4 in a final and still finish in fourth place, that is pretty good. I call it a freak of nature. It was a set-off, because of soft-touch, it just happens,” said Emmons.

“You just can’t let it get to you. I am waiting for some really good things to happen from this, because everything happens for a reason,” said Emmons, whose wife Katerina won a gold and a silver from the Games, to make it three for the family.

“I am very happy that I won the silver. It is a bit like running a marathon. You run for three hours and you miss at the last second. It is truly disappointing, but it could have been a lot worse,” said the silver medallist, Sukhorukov, on missing the gold by 0.1 point.

Debevec delighted

The former Olympic gold medallist, Debevec, was happy to land the bronze.

“This is my third final in a row in the Olympics in this event. I can’t say I was ever as nervous as today. Eight years ago I felt so strong when I won the gold. In Athens, I missed a medal by a few tenths of a point in fourth place, but this time I was lucky,” Debevec said.

World No.1, Jin Zhanbo of China, who had won the gold in Athens, finished 24th with an aggregate of 1163.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport