Beijing gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was understandably disappointed by his failure to qualify for the finals of the 10m air rifle challenge but said he was glad he came to compete in the London Olympics.
In an interview to journalists outside the shooting range, Bindra, who failed to qualify for the finals of the 10 m rifle event, said he was disappointed that he could not defend his medal in the event but said he was glad that he had displayed the courage to come back again and try.
“Winning the gold and retiring would have been a very lousy and easy way to go out”, said Bindra, adding “I’m glad I had the courage to come back and try again, even though I failed”.
File image of Abhinav Bindra Getty Images
Bindra said he had a difficult day at the range.
“Time was running out and I had to take some risks. You need a little luck for some shots and unfortunately I didn’t get it”, he said.
Bindra added that he felt he had done reasonably well up until the end and had been relaxed throughout.
Bindra shot extremely well in the opening rounds, but had a few bad rounds towards the end. He ended with 555 but needed at least 596 to qualify for the final.
His teammate Gagan Narang however, got through to the finals with a score of 598 after 6 series. He missed out on the previous Olympic record by just one point and was third best in the qualifying.
Acknowledging Narang’s performance in the qualifiers Bindra added, “I would like to wish Gagan the very best. He shot an excellent qualifying round, I think he will do very well in the final.”
