Gagan Narang gets Bronze with an aggregate of 701.1 points in the Qualifying and Final Rounds ~ misses Gold because of three sub 10 score shots(9.5 Shot 5,9.9 Shot 7 and 9.5 Shot 8 ) out of the 10 shots in the finals
Just imagine ! ~ Gagan shot a super 10.7 in his last Tenth Shot to confirm Bronze ~ his aggregate of 701.1 was just 1 point short of the Gold medal 702.1 ! ~ In fact after Shot 6 in the Finals both Gagan and Gold medal Winner Moldeveanu were equal in second at 660.7 points each with Silver medal Winner Campriani in 1st position with 661 points.Then Gagan scared all of us with his 7th and 8th shots recording just 9.9 and 9.5 and his dropping to fourth behind Wang of China after the seventh shot. He came back with a 10.3 and a superb 10.7 in the ninth and final tenth shot to take the Bronze !
The maximum 10.9 score for a shot was scored just once by a Netherlands Shooter and which elevated his ranking to get a shot at at least a Bronze if he could simply repeat this score~ Thankfully he could not !
Gold was cornered by the unheralded Moldeveanu of Romania who’s not even in the top 25 World Rankings,in fact came 38th in the European Championships ! he scored 702.1 aggregate pipping the favourite Italian,Campriani who scored 701.5 for the silver
Well done Gagan ! Done India Proud ! ~ missed a heartbeat when you dropped to fourth position midway and the three sub 10 scores ! ~ and somewhat comes as a balm after the frustration of the weekend when we expected Medals from our Archers ~ but first our Mens Archers and then our Women Archers ,both lost in the first round of 16 itself in the Team Event
Can now better understand defending champion Abhinav Bindra sighing “That’s the way Life Goes!” when not qualifying with Gagan for the Finals earlier today ~ decimal scores and millimeters decide the difference between winners and losers ~ Consistency in Scoring high over 10 in each shot remains the Key ~ Indian Shooters are clearly working hard on this ~ trying to stay motivated and not letting pressure,even that of high expectations, get to them
In Beijing 2008,Gagan was the favourite but did not qualify for the Finals while Abhinav Bindra came from behind to qualify and then even win Gold
Gagan had revealed then how heartbroken his Mom was in 2008 that she suffered a heart attack and was admitted to hospital ~ this must have strengthened Gagan’s resolve at the London 2012 Olympics to be among the Medals
Gagan is also participating in two other events and hope he is among medals in both ~ Gold would be great !