Nagoya, India’s shooting struggles at the Asian Games deepened on Thursday as the men’s 10m air pistol team, which is traditionally one of the country’s strongest disciplines, drew a blank here.
India’s combined score of 1727 was enough for fourth place, but Japan, who had trailed for much of the competition, seized their opportunity when Kedarling’s scores began to dip sharply and surged into the bronze-medal position with 1730. China took the team gold with 1743, while Indonesia won silver after also shooting 1743. China prevailed on the inner-10 count, recording 70 shots closer to the centre of the target compared to Indonesia’s 57.
For India, the numbers told a very different story.
An eight in his final sequence of 10 shots effectively ended India’s hopes and opened the door for Japan. The result came a day after India’s star-studded women’s 10m air pistol team of double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker and World Cup gold-medallists Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh also failed to make the final. Kedarling continued to fire erratically, with too many nines and too few high scores. As the competition entered its closing stages, India’s hopes of salvaging a team bronze were already hanging by a thread. Then came an extraordinary twist. With the team medal positions finely poised, members of the Japanese coaching staff gathered behind Kedarling in the spectator area, watching his final shots and hoping the Indian shooter would drop enough points to allow their team to move into bronze-medal position. The Japanese coaches left the area visibly pleased, knowing that Kedarling’s late lapse had helped their team move into medal position.
