ISSF Shooting World Cup: How a 'fly' robbed Vijayveer Sidhu of an Olympic spot

Everything seemed to be going in the right direction for India at the ongoing ISSF World Cup being held at Delhi. India is currently leading the medal tally quite comfortably with a very big margin.

But, tragedy seemed to have struck Vijayveer Sidhu during the final of 25m rapid fire pistol. With three of the six finalists in the final being Indians, the equation was fairly simple. Win the gold medal, improve your World Ranking and qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

While, the other two Indians – Gurpreet Singh and Anish finished at the sixth and fifth spot respectively, Sidhu was in contention for the gold medal after shooting 26 out of 40 to take the final into a shoot off against Estonia's Peeter Olesk.

Shooting first in the shoot off, Sidhu could hit the target only once out of five shots as a fly seemed to have settled on his eye shield which might have made him lose his concentration.

With only two perfect shots needed to win, the Estonian Olesk shot four out of five to clinch the gold and leave Vijayveer Sidhu's Tokyo hopes hanging by a thread.

Everything is not over for Vijayveer though as he can still qualify for the Tokyo Olympics if Peeter Olsek or the Estonian shooting team could win a quota through the European Championships. In case this happens, Vijayveer Sidhu can still qualify based on his world ranking at the end of the qualification period