Xu braves faulty target, clinches Olympic berth

NEWDELHI: Four hours before the first medal of the World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh shooting ranges here was decided — women’s 10m air rifle — China’s 20-yearold Xu Hong was in tears as her rhythm in the qualifying competition was spoilt after her electronic target malfunctioned.

Overcoming the tension and drama, Xu managed to score 628.1 and squeeze into the final. In the nail-biting eight-shooter final, she showed the tenacity of a champion to win bronze and with it qualification berth for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Xu’s compatriot Zhao Ruozhu won silver and the other quota place available. Zhao had shot a world record of 634.0 in the preliminary round.

Apurvi Chandela won gold with a world record score, but India had already secured two quota places in the event.

In the morning qualification round, Xu was allotted lane No 11. As per the rules, 15 minutes of preparation time is allowed and it is followed by 75 minutes for the 60 shots that decide the top eight competitors for the final.

After preparation time, it came to light that the electronic target system wasn’t functioning properly. Head of jury David Goodfellow shifted Xu to another firing point. The exercise took less than five minutes, but it spoilt Xu’s rhythm and focus. Settling down at a new firing point was tough. Almost all other competitors were close to completing the first series of ten shots while Xu was still adjusting to the new base.

After the qualifying phase, a Chinese team official tried to console a weeping Xu, who wasn’t happy with her score as she couldn’t focus due to lane change.

But Xu’s sadness paved the way for celebration as the results showed she had edged past Poland’s Aleksandra Szutko —she too shot an identical 628.1 —to the final as she had more inner 10s than her rival.

Compatriots Zhao Ruozhu and Zhu Yingjie were first and second in qualification to ensure a strong Chinese presence in the final.

Singapore’s Tan Fernel Qian Ni was also affected by a faulty target, but couldn’t make it to the final. In her case, three firing points were changed, but nothing worked. Since half the match time of 75 minutes had elapsed, the jury official shifted her to second qualification round. She shot 615.6 to finish 82nd out of the 101 competitors. Director-competition, VK Dhall, denied the target malfunction was due to ‘poor maintenance of the ranges’ saying all firing points had been tested.