The fifth event for the shooters at the 2016 Rio Olympics would be the 50 metre pistol for the men. This would take place after the 25 metre pistol event for women and will take place on the 5th day of the Olympics on 10 August 2016 at the National Shooting Centre in Rio.
Jitu Rai and Prakash Nanjappa will be the Indian men who will be taking part in the event. The former has been considered the favorite to win a medal for Indian at the Games. He will be hoping that he can eclipse his achievements in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the ISSF World Cups by winning his maiden Olympic gold medal.
Whereas, 40-year old Prakash Nanjappa will also be experiencing the Olympic Games for the very first time. He had been struck with facial paralysis in 2013 but came back strong to win the silver medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games behind compatriot Jitu Rai. Both the shooters will be making their debut at the Games in Rio.
The 50m pistol event is only for the men, there is no such event for the women. Here are some of the details about the event:
What is the 50 metre pistol event?
The 50m pistol event consists of a target that is 50 metres away from the shooter. The pistol used for the event must be in caliber .22 Long Rifle ammunition without any weight restriction, and must only be loaded with one round at a time, also having conventional "open" or "iron" sights (i.e. optical and laser sights are not allowed). The pistol must be operated by only one hand and should never be supported by any other part of the shooter's body.
The centre of the target is positioned at 0.75 meters above the floor and its total diameter measures 500 millimeters. The diameter of the 10th ring measures 100 millimeters.
The target is the same as in the 25 metre pistol event and scoring 570 out of the maximum 600 points is considered as a world-class result for any shooter.
Rules
In the qualification round of the men’s 50m pistol event, every competitor is supposed to fire a total of 60 shots within 1 hour and 30 minutes. The qualifications are scored in integer points, with the maximum score per shot being 10 points, and the maximum qualification score being 600 points.
Final
The top-eight athletes from the qualification phase advance to the final match, where they can shoot up to 20 final shots. The maximum score here for each shot is still 10.9 points which increases from the maximum 10 of the earlier round due to an additional set of 10 rings within the 10-point circle that increases the score of 0.1 points as it approaches the center of the target. This sets the highest possible score at 218.0 points.
The qualification score is not carried forward into the final round and all the eight finalists start the stage with zero points. The final begins with two series of 3 shots which are to be fired within 150 seconds, followed by 14 single shots to be fired on command and within 50 seconds.
After the eighth final shot, the athlete with the lowest aggregate score is eliminated from the final and is placed 8th in the standings. Any following elimination is determined every 2 shots until the Gold and Silver medallists are decided by the 20th and conclusive shot.
If there is a tie for the lowest ranking athlete to be eliminated, the tied athletes will fire additional tie-breaking single shots until the tie is broken.
Indians at the event:
Men: Jitu Rai, Prakash Nanjappa.
London 2012 result:
Men
Gold: Jin Jong-oh (South Korea)
Silver: Choi Young-Rae (South Korea)
Bronze: Wang Zhiwei (China)
