Indian shooting lost a star on August 8, as Abhinav Bindra ? India’s most decorated shooter retired from the sport after missing out on another Olympic medal.
On Day 3 of the Rio Olympics, the veteran shooter was expected to open India’s medal count at the mega event.
With him being India’s only gold medalist at an individual event in Olympics (Gold medalist at Beijing in 2008), eyes of the whole country were on Bindra as the 10m Air Rifle event kicked off.
it should be noted here that he had not been at his best in the qualifying rounds and was ranked seventh in the qualifying round with a score of 625.7. Narang, another shooter in the same event, was eliminated after finishing a sorry 23rd in the qualifying, with a score of 621.7.
Bindra finished fourth in the finals of the men’s 10m air rifle shooting event as he lost the shoot off for bronze medal against 23-year-old Ukranian S Kulish.
The ace shooter who was also the country’s flagbearer in the opening ceremony, had said it much ahead of the event that Rio Olympics would be his last appearance at a shooting event.