Men’s 10 metres air pistol is one of the biggest events in the shooting discipline at the Olympic Games. There is also a women’s event in the same category, but both the events take place on separate days at Rio 2016. In this event, the target is placed 10 metres away from the shooter and the centre of the target is located at a height of 1.4 metres above the ground.
Every shooter has a total of 60 shots which he has to shoot within 75 minutes in the qualifying stage. The top eight shooters qualify to the final round where they have to shoot 20 shots to win the medals. Here is everything you need to know about the event:
Live Telecast
Channel: Star Sports Network
Live Stream: starsports.com and Hotstar app
Date and Time: Friday, 6 August 2016 – 11:30 GMT (17:00 IST)
Venue: National Shooting Centre, Deodoro, Rio De Janeiro.
Also Read: Rio Olympics 2016: All you need to know about the 10m air pistol event
Indians participating:
Jitu Rai: There is no doubt that Jitu Rai is India’s biggest hope in shooting in the Rio Olympics. He comes on the back of winning a silver medal in the men’s 10-metre air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku recently.
He had also won a bronze medal at the 2015 ISSF World Cup in Changwon. The shooter will also be participating in the 50m pistol event, but the 10m air pistol is the one event where he will be expected to win given his number 3 ranking in the world.
Gurpreet Singh: Gurpreet Singh will be the dark horse for India in the 10m air pistol event. He has been performing well in recent years as he has won the silver medal in the same event at the 2015 Asian Championships held in New Delhi.
The shooter comes on the back of some consistent scores but that has not been reflected in his rankings at major international events. He will be looking forward to the opportunity of bettering his record from the 2010 Commonwealth Games where he had won the gold medal in 10m air pistol pairs.
Also Read: Rio Olympics 2016: Analysing Gurpreet Singh's medal chances at his first Olympics
Shooters to watch out for:
Oleh Omelchuk (Ukraine): The 33-year old has only recently produced the goods that make him a competitor for the podium in this event. He had won the gold medal in 10m air pistol category at the 2014 Moscow European Championships. He had also finished his Rio preparations by beating Jin Jong-oh to the gold medal in the recent ISSF World Cup held in Munich.
Jin Jong-Oh (South Korea): Jin Jong-oh is the undisputed champion of the 10m air pistol event. He had won the gold medal at the London Olympics and will be vying to defend it in Rio. He has also won a silver medal in the same event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He has a total of three gold medals, and two silver medals at the Games and will be looking to add to that tally when he steps foot in the shooting range.
Felipe Almeida Wu (Brazil): The young Brazilian has emerged as the number one ranked player after he had won the gold medals in the ISSF World Cups held in Bangkok and Baku this year. Wu goes into the Games as one of the underdogs to bag a gold medal in his home country.
