India’s 10m Air Pistol campaign at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics came to a screeching halt as shooters Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini Singh failed to qualify for the 10m Air pistol women’s final. Out of the two, Manu was the one closest to qualify for the final, but with an 8 on her last shot, she missed out on an opportunity.

Failing to qualify, Manu Bhaker and Yashaswini finished at the 12th and 13th positions, respectively.

In series 1 through 6, Manu scored 98, 95, 94, 95, 98, 95 to get a total accumulated score of 575.

Yashaswini, on the other hand, scored 94, 98, 94, 97, 96, 95 in her series 1 through 6, to get a total accumulated score of 574.

Both the shooters were appearing in the maiden Olympics and the pressure got the better of them in the crunch moments.

The 19-year-old Manu, ranked number two in the world, was held back by a technical glitch involving her gun after an impressive start saw her take one of the places in the top eight. The problem with her gun saw her lose five minutes but she came back to manage a 95. The cut-off was 577.

With a 98, the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics gold medallist tried to stage a comeback of sorts in the fifth series, but caved in under pressure in a poor final series, which saw her register one 8 and three 9s, leaving Frenchwoman Celine Goberville to bag the eighth and last qualifying spot.

Meanwhile, it has mostly been an up and down outing for world number one Yashaswini, who shot her way back into contention with a 98 in the second series, including scoring five 10s in the second part, after a subdued start.

But she was not consistent enough to challenge the top guns.