Asian Games Shooting: Divyansh/Ramita squanders lead against Koreans, misses bronze medal

Indian shooting pair of Divyansh Panwar and Ramita Jindal missed the 10m mixed air rifle bronze medal in a never-wracking third-place playoff by a 'fine margin' at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Tuesday. South Korean pair of Park Hajun and Lee Eunseo won the medal.

The phrase 'fine margins' is often used in sports but there are times when it becomes finer by millimetres. A similar thing happened when both pairs were tied thrice in the playoff.

The Korean pair won it finally with a score of 20-18, and it was a comeback for ages.

The bronze medal match was a nail-biting one as the Indian pair started off with a huge lead of 8-0 before the Koreans fought their way back.

From 0-8 down, the Korean pair made it 9-9 after a couple of poor series from Divyansh. The Indian pair then made it 13-9.

But Park Hajun and Lee Eunseo refused to give up and kept winning one series at a time. Yet, Panwar and Jindal got a golden chance to clinch the medal at 15-11 but they faltered allowing the Koreans to make another comeback.

The final went from 15-15 to 18-18 with both pair having three tied shots. In the last shot, the Indians faltered and the Korean pair walked off with the bronze medal.

Earlier in the qualification, Panwar, who was part of the 10m air rifle gold-winning team on Monday, shot 314.3, while 19-year-old Ramita shot 313.9 to aggregate 628.2.

In women's 25m pistol, Manu Bhaker finished the day at the top with 294 points, Esha Singh was placed third with 292 while Rhythm Sangwan finished 11th with 290.