Indian shooting at Paris Olympics: Three medals, heartbreaks and promise for better future

India have been sending shooters to the Olympics since Helsinki 1952. Karni Singh (at Rome 1960) and Anjali Vedpathak (at Sydney 2000) came closest to a podium finish with eighth places.

Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and more

It took until 2004 for the first medal to arrive - a silver courtesy Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at Athens. It created a tiny bit of pressure on other shooters.

Four years later, that was magnified by Abhinav Bindra’s gold at Beijing 2008. Or, if you’re a glass half full kind of person, it instilled belief in the Indian Olympians.

Another four years later, Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar ensured India won two medals in the same sport at an edition for the first time since 1900.

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Shooters now had a target of expectations on their backs. Making up places was not enough anymore. Reaching the finals was the minimum desire.

Instead, it was met with an inexplicable drought. Rio 2016 - nada. Tokyo 2020 - zilch. The Jitu Rais, the Saurabh Chaudhary’s tried and were pushed to the wayside.

Paris 2024 rolled around with renewed vigour and question marks over the capabilities of India’s much-hailed shooters. They can win aplenty at ISSF World Cups and the Asian Games but the Olympics are the gold standard.

Mixed teams were the first to take the range and begin trial by fire. Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta raised hopes in the 10m air rifle mixed team but finished sixth - missing the qualification mark by one point.

An hour or so later, Sarabjot Singh finished ninth in the 10m air pistol qualification. The difference between him and the final? An inner 10x mark!

Were these signs? Were Indian shooters set to be doomed once again?

Manu Bhaker calmed things down a touch by booking a place in the 10m air pistol final. On the next day’s morning session, Ramita Jindal booked a spot in the 10m air rifle final and suddenly things were not as bleak as imagined at the start.

If a bright spark was still needed that this was not a fluke, Bhaker, that very same poster child of a dreadful campaign three years ago, the youngster who was used as an example of wasting taxpayers’ money, found her place on the podium.

India had just won their very first shooting medal since 2012. Bhaker had just become the first Indian female shooter to medal at an Olympics.

Two days later, she would stand on the same level of the podium again. This time she would have Sarabjot for company . The very same Sarabjot who had faced the disappointment of missing out by the narrowest of margins.

Swapnil Kusale provided a third medal , in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions, to extend the tally. Never before had a sport contributed more than two medals for India at a single Olympics.

Oh so close!

Shooting could, and maybe should, have added more but for being brutally unlucky at times and being second-best at others.

Babuta-Jindal (10m air rifle mixed team), Babuta (10m air rifle), Sarabjot (10m air pistol), Bhaker (25m rapid fire pistol), and Vijayveer Sidhu (25m rapid fire pistol) all missed by the narrowest of margins from either qualifying for the final or a medal itself.

The theme of the Games became even more evident when Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Maheshwari Chauhan made their way into the skeet mixed team bronze medal match. In the clash, they missed by one point to force a shoot-off.

Maybe, that is a reflection of the tough standards that are required to be met at this level. One point, one inner 10x, one shot in a shoot-off is all that separates an athlete from slumping to the wayside never to be remembered and going down in history.

National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), which had faced intense scrutiny after Tokyo 2020, could finally breathe easy. The association had faced a barrage of questions in the leadup over the selection criteria and scheduling of trials. In the post-math, they could validate their policies and decision-making.

But are three medals the ceiling? In the world of Simone Biles, Leon Marchand, Torri Huske and amid unfathomable achievements by athletes from minnows like Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, Guatemala’s Adriana Ruano, Dominica’s Thea LaFond, India should aspire for more.