The bigger they come, the harder they fall. Singled out as a sure shot medal hope by National Rifles Association of India President, Jitu Rai’s world came crashing down as he failed to manage anything spectacular with his pistol on the day when it mattered the most. Ranked number 3 in the World in 10m air pistol, Rai’s journey to the 2016 Rio Olympics got off to the worst possible start as the shooter couldn’t make it count in the finals after coming from behind in the qualifiers to cement his place in the finals.
With 28.9, Jitu Rai was last after the first three shots out of the eight and couldn’t climb up the table in his subsequent attempts either before being eliminated at eighth position with an eventual score of a 78.7. The shooter on whom a billion hopes were pinned to get India its first medal, walked away disappointed from his place in the range after the 9th shot.
The 29-year-old was slow to start with in the qualifiers where he was up against 45 shooters and needed to score three 10s off his last three shots to qualify for the finals. The marksman raised hopes in the way he managed to score thirty with his last three shots and a great deal of expectations lay on him when he walked to take the 6th position in the finals.
In the finals though, the shooter looked shaky from the word go and started on a feeble note. Rai’s poor start along with the impressive start for others meant that Rai was staring at a mountain to climb right after his first shot. The otherwise calm shooter cracked under pressure as he failed to lift his performance and continuously fired disappointing numbers. One could read pressure writ large all over his face as he took his final set of shots before bowing out.
It must be kept in mind though that Rai was experiencing the glitz and aura of the quadrennial event for the first time and it was possibly the grandness of the occasion that got the better of the shooter who had been unbelievably consistent in the last two years leading up to the event. In fact, just before the Olympics, he claimed a silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku by shooting a brilliant 199.5 in the final.
Rai’s failure capped off a forgettable first day for India which saw Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out in the first round in what was Paes’ seventh Olympic. The hockey victory brought some smiles on the fans’ faces but the manner in which it was achieved means there is no guarantee how long will that smile last.
Rai will, however, be still in with a chance as he would be vying for a medal once again on Wednesday when the 50m air pistol event takes place. Rai is ranked 2nd in the world in the event, and though he has expressed his preference for 10m air pistol event in the past, today’s debacle in the same would mean he would leave nothing to chance when he walks down the same arena on Wednesday.
Earlier this year in March, the 29-year-old had bagged Gold by defeating two of the strongest members of the Chinese Olympic team, Pang Wei and Wang Zhiwei, to win the 50m Pistol Men final at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok. So, there is no good reason that Rai can’t perform an encore in the Brazilian capital on Wednesday. But before that, the shooter would need to put this performance behind him and go back to the drawing board. Not too many in this event get a second chance like Rai and many participating in a single event would have packed their bags by now.
This second opportunity is what Rai would need to grab with both hands. In life outside the range, if there is any story that demonstrates how well to make a second chance count, it’s the shooter’s. From working in farms a decade ago to leading India’s medal hopes in Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Rai has turned many a corner in his life. On Wednesday, there will be prayers on millions of lips that the Naib Subedar of Gurkha Rifles turns one more corner to shoot his way to the glory he promised and the glory his story deserves.
