India’s wait for their first Olympic medal at Rio continued as Abhinav Bindra finished 4th in his 10m Air Rifle final on Monday. The 33-year-old was tied at 163.8 with Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine at 163.8, and in a shootout fired a 10.0 while the latter fired 10.5. That meant that the Indian had to settle for a 4th place finish in his final Olympic Games.
The India found himself in the top 3 for a large part of the competition, but a 9.9 towards the end derailed him and perhaps turned out to be the decisive shot that sealed his fate.
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Nicolas Campriani of Italy bettered the silver that he won in London 2012, winning the gold with a score of 206.1. Kulish won the silver medal with a score of 204.6 while Vladimir Maslwnnikov won bronze with a score of 184.2.
Earlier in the qualification, the Indian finished 7th with a score of 625.7 while his fellow countryman Gagan Narang finished a disappointing 23rd , thereby failing to make it through to the final.
While this may seem like a disappointing results to Indian fans, no one can deny the fight and spirit that Bindra showed – both in the qualification and in the final. A true-blue shooting veteran, Bindra has repeatedly done his country proud and has some incredible achievements to his name. He is the only individual gold medallist of independent India, and he has won tons of other honours at global competitions.
While he would have like to have finished his Olympic career on a medal-winning note, there is no doubt that his contributions will be remembered for a long time to come.
