Paris Olympics: India's mixed skeet team misses bronze medal by a whisker

PARIS: It was heartbreak at Chateauroux once again for India. After Manu Bhaker missed out on the 25m pistol bronze by a whisker, it was the mixed skeet team of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka's turn to return empty-handed from the shotgun range.

For a long time, the Indian duo was in contention for a bronze, but China beat them 44-43. It was a creditable show for the Indians as they were not one of the favourites and with this, ends India's most successful shooting campaign of all time in Olympics — which resulted in three bronze.

Italy won the mixed skeet gold beating the United States 45-44 in the gold medal match. In the third-place match, India were trailing 7-8 after the first series, where each shooter was allowed four shots. Soon the Indians caught up as China's Yiting Jiang missed three of her shots in the second series and it ended 13-13. The third series saw both the men — Naruka and China's Jianlin Lyu — powder all the four birds but the women missed one each and the scores were again level at 20-20.