When the team left the Indian shores, Beijing Games gold medallist
Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang and Ronjan Sodhi were touted as serious
medal contenders and the media talked about an unprecedented hall of
medals from the shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks. While
Gagan Narang managed a bronze, Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Sodhi turned in
disappointing performances to dent their medal prospects.
On the whole, it again proved that Indian shooters, despite having
improved vastly over the years, lacked the confidence and the composure
to do well in the biggest sporting stage.
Although they have good track records, they just could not hold their
nerves and many of them got overawed by the situation and succumbed to
pressure. None of the women shooters could really make much of an
impression.
Heena Siddhu, known for her consistency, was expected to do better than
what she did, finishing 12th in qualification round for 10m air pistol,
while Rahi Sarnobat took the 11th position in the 25m air pistol
qualification.
The boxing ring was expected to give India a few medals, but a bronze
from Mary Kom was all that came their way. There was a lot of hype
surrounding the boxers when they left for the Games amid high hopes of
winning a few medals, so the results will no doubt come as a huge let
down with all the male boxers returning empty-handed.
