Manu Bhaker finishes fifth as India miss out on women’s 10m air pistol medal

• Manu Bhaker finishes fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final after qualifying third

• India narrowly misses team bronze, finishing fourth behind Vietnam on inner-10 count despite identical scores of 1719

• India’s shooting tally stands at seven medals — four silver and three bronze, with gold still elusive

Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol individual event as India returned without a medal from the discipline at the Asian Games on Wednesday.

Bhaker, who had qualified third for the final with a score of 579, finished fifth with 181.1 points in the medal round. The 24-year-old had won the individual bronze in the same event at the Paris Olympics, besides claiming a bronze in the mixed team 10m air pistol event.

Bhaker will now turn her attention to the women’s 25m pistol event, where she is the defending Asian Games champion.

Among the other Indian shooters, Esha Singh finished 15th in qualification with a score of 572 and missed out on a place in the individual final. Suruchi Singh ended 26th with 568.

India also came agonisingly close to a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol team event. The Indian trio of Bhaker, Esha and Suruchi finished fourth with a combined score of 1719, the same total as Vietnam. However, Vietnam secured the bronze medal on the basis of a superior inner-10 count, 46 to India’s 44.

The result means India’s shooting contingent has so far collected seven medals at the Asian Games — four silver and three bronze — but is still searching for its first gold.

India had earlier won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team and individual events, while the men’s 10m air rifle team and individual competitions also produced silver and bronze medals for the country.

With PTI inputs