Rio de Janeiro: India continued its flop show on day seven of the Olympic Games here with Atanu Das bringing down the curtains in archery, rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh coming a cropper and shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa making a tame exit.
<img title="Discus thrower Vikas Gowda and Badminton players Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/aug/12gowda-gutta.jpg" alt="Discus thrower Vikas Gowda and Badminton players Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa" /> Discus thrower Vikas Gowda and Badminton players Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. Pics/ AFP
To add to the woes, the country's athletes made a disastrous beginning in track and field events with star discus thrower Vikas Gowda buckling under pressure once again to finish a distant 28th with a poor best throw of 58.99 metres and was eliminated.
A similar dismal story was repeated by woman shot putter Manpreet Kaur who came up with a best effort of 17.06 metres that fetched her the 23rd position overall. She too made an inglorious exit from the Games.
Half miler Jinson Johnson also bowed out by finishing fifth in first round heat 3 clocking 1 minute, 47.27. Overall his time gave him the 25th place out of 57 starters and was better than some of the other qualifiers who progressed automatically as they finished in the top three of their respective heats.
The day commenced with Atanu Das letting slip chances in his men's individual recurve pre-quarterfinal to bow out of contention and draw curtains on India's fruitless campaign in archery.
Shooting amid heavy rain, Atanu went down 4-6 to World No.8 Lee Seung-Yun, who had already helped South Korea win the team gold at the event, by losing two sets and winning one while the rest two ended in ties. The Indian lost 28-30, 30-28, 27-27, 27-28 28-28 to bring to an end the country's medal-less campaign.
"Every match (competition) has its own pressure. Olympics obviously is the highest level. You have more pressure here. This was my first Olympics. I tried my best but could not succeed. Hope to do better the next time," the Kolkatan told PTI after his exit from competition.
Women archers Laishram Bombayla Devi, Deepika Kumari and Laxmirani Majhi have already bowed out of contention after losing in both the women's team and individual events.
The script was no different in another precision sport, shooting, where seasoned Narang and Chain Singh flopped in the prone position of the 50m rifle event.
While Narang, who won the London Games bronze in 10m Air Rifle, signed off 13th with a total score of 623.1, Singh was way down at 36th with a score of 619.6 in the qualification round.
It was particularly disappointing for Narang, who was placed as high as 4th at one stage. However, he bungled the advantage by shooting his poorest in the sixth and final series, which yielded him his lowest score of 102.4. Narang's series break-up stood at 104.7, 104.4, 104.6, 103.0, 104.0, 102.4
Singh, on the other hand, never seemed to be in the reckoning after losing the plot in his second and fourth series, which fetched him scores of 101 and 102.4.
His subsequent efforts at salvaging the situation could not save him from a free-fall on the leaderboard. Singh shot a series of 104.1, 101.0, 104.4, 102.4, 103.9, 103.8. Narang and Singh will still have a shot at redemption on Sunday, the final day of shooting, when they take aim in the 50m Rifle 3 Position event.
Touted as the brightest medal hopes for the country, the shooters have been way off the mark at the mega-event. Beijing Games gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra has so far been the best performer with a fourth-place finish in the 10m Air Rifle event.
In badminton, the experienced duo of Jwala and Ashwini was eliminated from women's doubles event after losing second successive group A clash.
In a rollercoaster game against the Dutch team of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek, Jwala and Ashwini went down 16-21 21-16 17-21 in a 48-minute clash. Lying second from bottom in the group standings, Jwala and Ashwini will have just pride to play for when they take on Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Indonesia in their final group clash.
Meanwhle, Gowda said, "My performance was not very good today. Frustrating. Just had a lot of bad luck this year. Lot of injuries. Was not able to train until three-four weeks ago. Obviously, that was not enough time to prepare." "I tore both quad-tendons of my knees. Right above the kneecap, earlier in the year. It did progress, so I had to take a break from training. So, not enough enough time," Gowda added.

India continued its flop show on day seven of the Olympic Games here with Atanu Das bringing down the curtains in archery, rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh coming a cropper and shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa making a tame exit

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India continued its flop show on day seven of the Olympic Games here with Atanu Das bringing down the curtains in archery, rifle shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh coming a cropper and shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa making a tame exit

Struggling India continue to plumb depths in Olympics

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