"I think I tried shooting too hard": Manu Bhaker opens up on 10m Air Pistol mixed team failure

Seeing India's largest shooting contingent collapse one after another at their events is agonizing for the fans in the country. The shooting team's crumbling luck continued as Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary made an exit from Qualification stage 2 of the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event at Olympics 2021 on Tuesday.

The Indian duo finished 7th after acing the first qualification phase with 582 points (Manu Bhaker 286/300 and Saurabh Chaudhary 296/300) out of 600.

India’s 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team of @realmanubhaker & @SChaudhary2002 advance to qualification stage 2 after finishing qualification stage 1 at 1st place. The team of Yashaswini Deswal & @abhishek_70007 finish the qualification round 1 at 17th place. #Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/fI1Tf56ySr
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 27, 2021

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In the 2nd qualification phase Saurabh finished the first series with a total score of 194 out of a possible 200, while Manu could only target 186, with her last 3 hits reading 8, 10, 8.

In the second series, the Indian pair did better with 192 (Saurabh 98 and Manu 94) but it wasn’t quite enough to carry them into the top four. While in the third series, the duo managed to pull off a combined score of 193 (Saurabh 98 and Manu 95).

Saurabh and Manu tried their best to get back to the position from where they could get through to the medal round, but their efforts fell short of what was required.

The Medal Tally for Tokyo 2020 is out now. Check out the Tokyo Olympics Medal Tally.

10m Air Pistol mixed team of @realmanubhaker and @SChaudhary2002 finish qualification round 2 at 7th place with a score of 380.Stay tuned for more #Tokyo2020 updates.#Cheer4India
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 27, 2021

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Manu Bhaker, while addressing the post-match press conference, said:

Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary were India's biggest medal hopefuls in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event. However, they failed to perform on the world's grandest sporting stage.

Here's what Manu had to say after her disappointing run continued at the Olympics 2021.

While talking about her women's individual equipment malfunction, Manu said:

" I think my answer would be the same. I think I tried way too hard on this. In fact, gun malfunctions are not something which is expected. I was pretty good with my pistol. It was unexpected. The circuit stopped working and the lever went lose. But there is a circuit malfunction in the technical department. I tried my best."

Upon being asked what she expects from her next event - the 25m pistol women's event - Manu said:

"It will be different. I have been preparing for it. It will be fine. If you haven’t noticed, I have been participating in three events now, and every competition I have been shooting, so there is no pressure".