Narang finishes sixth as Indians struggle at Worlds

Gagan Narang missed out on an Olympic quota by just one place as he finished sixth in the final of the men's 50-metre rifle prone while Prakash Nanjappa and Jitu Rai narrowly missed out on the final of the 10-metre air pistol at the 51st Shooting World Championships in Granada, on Thursday.

After coming through the tough qualifying, Narang could total only 124.2 by the time the top five, including the three medallists, were decided in the final. Five Olympic quotas were on offer in the event.

Another Indian, Hariom Singh, could not make it to the final after finishing 45th in the qualifying.

Rai, who had already sealed a berth in the 2016 Rio Games with his silver medal-winning feat in the 50-metre pistol event on Tuesday, failed to qualify in the 10-metre air pistol as he finished 10th in the final qualifying, with Prakash Nanjappa a shade better at ninth.

Earlier, in the final elimination round of 50-metre rifle prone event, multiple medallist Narang was seventh after aggregating 625.5 with a series of 104.6 104.2 103.4 104.2 105.4 103.7.

The Indians had got off to a poor start in the tournament with Beijing Olympic gold winner Abhinav Bindra failing to qualify in his pet event on the opening day of the competition.

An in-form Rai on Wednesday shot his way to a silver medal and earned an Olympic quota to bring the cheer back in the Indian contingent.

As many as 64 quota places for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio are on offer at the World shooting championships.

Image: Gagan Narang

Photograph: Lars Baron/Getty Images