Tokyo Olympics: Equipment malfunction costs Manu Bhaker a place in 10m air pistol final

Manu Bhaker returned to the firing point after getting the issue fixed but, by then, it has disturbed her momentum as she went up again, against a world-class filed comprising Olympic and world champions.

A ‘circuit malfunction’ in her pistol cost Indian shooting ace Manu Bhaker dearly as she narrowly missed out on qualifying for the finals of the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday (July 25). Owing to the technical snag during the second series, Manu lost more than five minutes, enough to disturb one’s rhythm in the precision sport, after making an impressive start in her maiden Olympic appearance. Her father Ramkishan Bhaker, as well as a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) official, said that the electronic trigger of Manu’s pistol had ‘suffered a circuit malfunction’ in the middle of the second series of the qualification. Manu returned to the firing point after getting the issue fixed but, by then, it has disturbed her momentum as she went up again, against a world-class filed comprising Olympic and world champions. The 19-year-old, ranked number two in the world, was pegged back by the technical glitch after a start that saw her take one of the places in the top eight. An opening of 98 was followed by 95, 94 and a 95 as the young shooter dropped out of the top-10. With a 98, the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist tried to stage a comeback in the fifth series, but one 8 and three 9s in the sixth and final series left Frenchwoman Celine Goberville to bag the eighth and last qualifying spot.