Why are Indian rifle shooters missing out on gold at Asiad? It’s in how they begin their finals

The Indian air rifle squad has struggled to secure a gold medal in the Asian Games despite impressive performances in their qualification rounds. At the 10m air rifle finals, Elavenil Valarivan and Rudranksh Patil finished with scores of 9.7 and 9.5 respectively, missing out on the coveted gold medal. Both athletes were in strong positions, but struggled to replicate their qualifying form during the final rounds.

Experts suggest that the pressure to perform in the finals may have been a contributing factor to the Indian shooters' subpar performance. Both Elavenil and Rudranksh started their finals with lightning-fast scores, but maintaining that intensity and mental focus throughout the event is a challenging task. Elavenil candidly admitted that she needs to improve her pacing and breathing techniques during finals, while Rudranksh has lost out to Japan's Hinata Taichi and China's Sheng Lihao, both of whom have established themselves as exceptional shooters.

Lihao, at just 21 years old, has already earned himself a reputation as one of the best air rifle shooters in the world. He displayed a robotic precision in his second set of shots, registering a remarkable six consecutive 21.4s, which helped him maintain a near-perfect average of 10.7 during his final 12 shots. His ability to consistently hit the highest 10s under pressure has led to multiple Olympic and Asian Games titles.

India's best performance in individual air rifle shooting came through Gagan Narang in 2010, but gold has remained elusive in recent years. The challenge seems to stem from the mental and stylistic differences in how Indian shooters approach finals compared to their Asian counterparts. Indian shooters tend to perform better in qualification rounds, where they can maintain a steady rhythm, but falter when it comes to the last few crucial shots required to claim gold.