Rio 2016: Abhinav Bindra's rifle malfunctioned moments before qualifiers

RIO DE JANEIRO: Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra missed out on a bronze medal in Rio by a whisker and thus ended his Olympic journey with a fourth-place finish in 10m air rifle event on Monday. Add to that, the 33-year-old had to deal with a malfunctioned rifle too. Talking to Navbharat Times, Bindra's long time coach Heinz Reinkemeier revealed that his celebrated trainee missed his favorite rifle which was especially designed for Rio Games. According to Heinz, moments before the qualifications, the table on which Bindra's rifle was placed broke all of a sudden. It also damaged the 'sight' of his favorite rifle forcing him to replace it with a standby one. Bindra confirmed the incident to NBT saying he had no choice but to adjust.So, did it play on his mind? "Well this was especially designed for the Olympics and he was practicing with it for long time. Even here in the Rio, he did seven days of practice with this one. I can't say exactly whether it had an impact on the result but yes this is the philosophy," Heinz said.Heinz otherwise is happy with Bindra's performance. "Everybody would say only medals count but look at the way he shot today. He came here as 13th ranked shooter and fought hard. I am happy with his performance," he said.