The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Mixed event, mixed response
With the rules still evolving, only a few take the competition seriously
THE INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING Sport Federation (ISSF) introduced mixed team events to bring an element of drama in an otherwise individual sport. Having a male and a female competitior on the same team could add unpredictability to the format with a shooter, despite performing excellently, having to hope that the partner will not mess up.
The world body thinks the scenario of a shooter erring at the crucial juncture and jeopardising his/her team's chances will engage the audience and provide a talking point, and the fans will discuss what transpired rather than forget it in a hurry.
On Saturday, the mixed doubles made its 10m air rifle debut at the World Cup. Its final had the desired effect. But it never really set the pulses racing.
With his last shot, Atsushi Shimada shot a 10.4. But he remained still, head bowed and embarrassed. The half-full finals hall had seen the 19-year-old Japanese shooter implode in the final five shots, which gave their Chinese rivals the gold medal.
Japan were never in control, always chasing their much-superior rivals. But Ayano Shimizu, the veteran 10m rifle shooter, shot a 10.8, 10.7 and 10.6 (shots closest to the perfect score of 10.9) to help Japan nudge ahead with just five shots to go.
Going into the final five shots, the teams had to change their shooter. Shimada came on and undid the hard work his teammate had done.
From being a point ahead, Japan ended the final two behind China. Shimizu watched her 19-year-old teammate’s meltdown helplessly. “It happens,” is the most common explanation offered by shooters during such moments.
Not this time, though. The post-final analysis centred around Shimada’s implosion. “That’s the stuff shooting needs. People should talk about it instead of just sit, clap and go home,” Australia coach Petr Kurka says.
“When you see one shooter do well and his teammate, kind of, mess up the hard work, you end up comparing. From a spectator’s point of view, this is good.”
No time to stratergise
From the shooter’s perspective, though, it isn’t. This was the first time the event was demonstrated at a World Cup. The rules weren’t drafted until this week, which gave the marksmen very little time to understand them completely to ‘strategise’.
The shooters, one male and one female, fire 30 shots each in the qualifying round in four series of five shots (to be completed in 250 seconds per series) followed 10 single shots on command of the judge. The six teams with the most points at the end advance to the final.
In the final, the male and female shooters take turns alternately. There are five series of five shots each and the medallists are decided on the basis of the total score of both shooters.
The teams must change their shooters after every odd series and have the option of changing partners after an even one.
Overall, though, the event lacked seriousness. Apart from China and Japan, no other team looked keen to compete for a medal. So much so that Hungary’s Peter India Sidi, who won a silver in the 10m air rifle event, called it ‘boring.’ “It's just playing, you know. Like passing time. This is not a real event,” Sidi said.
“Nobody knows what is happening. We are just learning the event as it was being played. The rules could be better. It is a little bit boring.”
India had entered two teams: Deepak Kumar and Meghana Sajjanar formed one team with Ravi Kumar and Vinita Bhardwaj being the second. Neither team qualified for the final.
“The event didn’t feel any different. It was usual stuff. I didn’t talk to my partner or strategise as such. Just went there, shot and hoped our individual totals would be enough to take us through,” Deepak says. “I couldn’t look at her scores and she didn’t see mine. It’s a team event, but we were doing our individual thing.”
The mixed events will make their Olympic debut in Tokyo once the International Olympic Committee formally approves the ISSF’S recommendation later this year.
The rules aren’t finalised yet and the medals won by the teams on Saturday won’t count in the final tally. “We will try out different things. For the 10m pistol event on Sunday, we will try another set of rules.
The idea is to try and modify the rules until we arrive at a final thing. So the World Cups this year will be used to experiment this format and hopefully, by the World Cup finals (to be held in Delhi in October), we will finalise a format,” ISSF’S rifle jury chairman David Goodfellow says.
The mixed doubles is the ISSF’S attempt to create a villain, a weak link. But going by first impressions, it’s the event that’s turned into a weak link among the other strong ones.