Indian shooters sign off on disastrous note

It was a disastrous end to the Indian shooters' campaign in the 14th Asian Games as they failed to qualify for the final round of the last two events of the competition -- the 25 metres Standard Pistol and Skeet -- on Tuesday.

At the end of the second round in skeet, the Indian trio of Rahoul Rai, Harinder Singh Bedi and Naveen Jindal ended way down the ladder while in the 25 metres Standard Pistol, Japal Rana, Ved Prakash Pilaniya and Samresh Jung were nowhere in the contention.

In the last two rounds of the skeet event, Rahoul Rai, who scored 66 out of 75 yesterday, shot 43 (22, 21) out of 50 today to aggregate 109 in five rounds and was placed joint 23rd in the field of 33.

Harinder Singh Bedi, who shot 64 yesterday, fired 43 (21,22) for a total of 107 and ended at 29th place. A slot behind him was compatriot Naveen Jindal, who shot 18 (18, 0). He finished yesterday with a score of 65 thus totalling today 83.

In the 25 metres standard pistol, Jaspal Rana ended at 12th place with a total of 568. In his first series of four rounds, he had a score of 190 (50,45,47,48), in the second series he earned a total of 189 (47,46,48,48) and in the third, 189 (48,48,48,45).

Ved Prakash was placed 19th with a total of 561. His series scores were 192 (48,49,47,48), 188(47,48,48,45) and 81(45,45,44,47).

Samresh Jung finished in 36th position, with a total of 551. His series read 194 (49,50,49,46), 189(47,48,47,47) and 168 (36,48,44,40).

Thus ended the sorry campaign of the 28-member Indian shooting squad, including nine women with their reputation severely dented.

They could win only two silver medals.

In the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games, the shooters had won as many as 14 golds.