Indians at Rio 2016: Abhinav Bindra misses medal by whisker, hockey men lose in final secs

Rio de Janeiro It was a tale of missed opportunities for India at the 2016 Olympic Games as star marksman Abhinav Bindra narrowly missed a medal and the mens hockey team slumped to a 12 defeat to Germany by conceding a goal with three seconds left in the match on the third day of competitions todayThere were setbacks in other events too as the trap shooting duo of Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai could not improve on their opening day performance and failed to qualify for the Olympics mens trap semifinals signing off at 16th and 19th respectively on the second and final day of qualificationAbhinav Bindra competes in the Mens 10m Air Rifle qualifying round at Rio Olympics 2016 at Rio de Janeiro Brazil on Monday PicPTIWoman archer Laxmirani Majhi also put up a belowpar performance in the individual elimination round one and bowed out without a fight against Alexandra Longova of SlovakiaMajhi just could not raise her level of marksmanship and lost the contest 17 losing three sets and drawing anotherBindra the only individual Olympic gold medalist in 2008 at Beijing in the same mens 10m air rifle event lost a tensionfilled shootoff against Ukrainian marksman S Kulish after the two were tied third at 1638 in the race to reach the medal roundThe Indian did not show any emotion after the heartbreaking moment as he walked off after losing the oneshot elimination against Kulish who went on to win the silver medal with 2046 behind gold medalist Niccolo Campriani 2061 of ItalyIn fact the Indian ace in his fifth and last appearance in Olympics was at one stage standing second in the eightman final in which one shooter gets eliminated gradually leading to the final two men standing in the faceoff for the gold after the 20th shotThe Zirakpurbased shooter had finished seventh in the qualifying round to make the cut for the finals while his compatriot and London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang was way off the mark and missed out of the finals afterfinishing at a lowly 23rd positionBindra scored 6257 to book a berth in the finals This is the only event Bindra is competing in the ongoing GamesBindra who crashed to a 16th place finish in London four years ago scored 1043 1044 1059 1038 1021 and 1052 in the qualifying roundFor another seasoned campaigner Narang after picking up 737 points from his first seven shots he fired a 108 to jump to the pole position with 1053 pointsBut he lost the plot in subsequent rounds After scoring 1053 in his first round Narangs performance went downhill as he shot 1045 1021 1034 1016 1048 in the next five to finish with 6217 points in the field of 50 shootersIn mens hockey Indias perennial habit of conceding late goals continued to haunt them as reigning double Olympic champions Germany scored seconds from the final hooter to steal a 21 win in a thrilling Pool B matchIt was heartbreak for the Indian fans as despite playing near perfect hockey for the major part of the match the Germans stole the win with just three seconds from full timeIndias Rupinder Pal Singh celebrates scoring a goal during the mens field hockey Germany vs India match of the Rio 2016 Olympics Games at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Rio de Janeiro on August 8 2016 PicAFPAfter weathering Indias attacking onslaught for the majority of the game the Germans exerted tremendous pressure on the Indian defence in the final two minutesThe Indian defence which had a good match and stood firm all throughout fumbled in the final seconds as Christopher Ruhr scored the winner for Germany with a deflection from close range to dash the PR Sreejeshled sides hopesEarlier Germany took the lead against the run of play through a field goal from Niklas Wellen 18th minute before Rupinder Pal Singh 23rd drew parity for India by converting his third penalty corner of the GamesThe win helped Germany keep their successful run intact against India since 1996 India last defeated Germany in Olympics way back in the Atlanta Games when they secured a 30 victoryBut despite the loss the Indians can take heart from the fact that they dished out a much better display against Germany today than what they managed in the recent past which includes a 33 draw against a depleted German side in the Champions Trophy in London and 04 thrashing in Valencia just prior to the Olympics