Pistol shooter Gurpreet Singh could not manage to qualify for the final round of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event as he finished with a tally of 581 points which placed him at the 7th spot in the table at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio.
On the second day of the event, China’s Fusheng Zhang was in the first batch of shooters and fired 298 points (100, 99 and 99) out of the available 300 points which saw him securing a berth in the final round. However, Gurpreet saw himself shift one spot ahead to 9th in the table even before he had started day two of the qualification round. The shooter had a tally of 289 points from the three series of shots which were conducted yesterday and needed to perform exceptionally well to finish inside the top-6 in order to advance for the final round.
The 28-year old started the day by scoring 97 points in his fourth series where the 10 shots are taken within 8 seconds. This kept him at the 9th spot in the table as the competition looked tough with other shooters also performing well. Gurpreet needed a score of two 99s or better in his final two series if he had any chance to qualify for the final round.
But the shooter was forced to give in to pressure even though he climbed to the 8th spot by scoring 98 points in his fifth series where the 10 shots are taken within 6 seconds. He lost his position in the points table and chances of qualification for the next round looked bleak with the shooter needing a perfect 100 in his final series to have a shot at finishing inside the top-6.
Gurpreet accumulated 98 points from his 6th and last series to finish at the 7th spot in the points table in the end. It was a very close call as the Indian needed Italy’s Riccardo Mazzetti to fail miserably in his shots. But it wasn’t meant to be for the Indian as he finished at the 7th spot – one spot away from qualifying. Here is the list of the top-6 shooters who progress to the final round which will take place at 9 PM IST:
1) Christian Reitz (Germany) – 592 points
2) Fusheng Zhang (China) – 590 points
3) Jean Quiquampoix (France) – 586 points
4) Riccardo Mazzetti (Italy) – 586 points
5) Yuehong Li (China) – 584 points
6) Leuris Pupo (Cuba) – 583 points
