Paris Olympics: Manu-Sarabjot duo enters bronze medal round

Chateauroux: A confident Manu Bhaker placed herself in contention for a second Olympic medal as she combined with Sarabjot Singh to make the bronze playoff in the 10m air pistol mixed team event but Ramita Jindal ended seventh in the 10m air rifle women's competition here on Monday.

The 22-year-old Bhaker came into the mixed team qualifications after winning a historic bronze medal in the 10m women's air pistol event on Sunday. Bhaker and Sarabjot finished with a total of 580 to make the medal round to be held on Tuesday.

The Indians will face Koreans Oh Ye Jin and Lee Wonho, who shot 579, in the bronze-medal match.

The other Indian pair of Rhythm Sangwan and Arjun Singh Cheema finished 10th with a score of 576 and failed to make it to the medal rounds.

Turkiye, who equalled Qualification Olympic Record with 582, and Serbia (581), who finished second, respectively, will contest the gold-medal match.

Bhaker was sensational with her 98s in the first two series, but a 95 in the third set pulled the team down a bit. However, the pair did enough to make the medal round in the end. Sarabjot, who missed out on gaining a spot in the finals of the men's 10m air pistol event by a whisker, shot 97 in the second and third, after a 95 in the first.

Ramita faces tough competition
Young Indian shooter Ramita's score was 145.3 when she bowed of the high-quality eight-women final. She was placed seventh after 10 shots (104.0), when the elimination began.

In danger of being eliminated, a 10.5 pushed Ramita to sixth place even as Norway's Hegg Jeanette Duestad made an exit. But the Indian could not save herself after that.

She was placed fourth at one point but failed to maintain the momentum.

In the qualifications on Sunday, she performed exceedingly well to make the final in the fifth place.

Ramita, the Hangzhou Asian Games bronze-medallist in the event, beat World Championship medallist Mehuli Ghosh and Tilottama Sen at the domestic trials to make it to Paris Games.

Babuta narrowly misses medal finishes fourth
Arjun Babuta buckled under pressure and finished fourth in the men's 10m air rifle competition after coming close to winning a medal in his maiden Olympics. Babuta shot a total of 208.4. A 9.5 in response to Croatia's Miran Maricic's 10.7 put paid to his hopes of finishing on the podium.

The 25-year-old Babuta started the final with a 10.7 and followed that with a 10.2. A third shot of 10.5 saw him take the fourth spot while a 10.4 in his fourth attempt lifted him to the third spot. He finished the first series with a solid 10.6.

He started the second series with a 10.7, followed that with a 10.5 and shot a near-perfect 10.8 in the second shot of the first elimination series.

That effort propelled him into the second place while reducing the deficit between him and world record holder Chinese Sheng Lihao to 0.1 point. However, he could not sustain the form and missed out on the medal.

Lihao claimed the top honours in this event with an Olympic record of 252.2. Sweden's Victor Lindgren took the silver medal with a score of 251.4, followed by Croatia's Miran Maricic (230) at the third spot.