Olympics: Shooters Chandela, Paul crash out in qualification round

India's shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul were way off the mark in the 10m Air Rifle Women's event, finishing way behind the leaders to bow out in the qualification round, at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Saturday.

Chandela shot an overall 411.6 to finish 34th out 51 competitors while Paul finished further down in 47th place with a total score of 403.

2004 champion China's Li Du topped the qualification with a sublime 420.7, setting up an Olympic record in the process.

The other other seven shooters who qualified for the final were Barbara Engleder of Germany, Elaheh Ahmadi of Iran, Daria Vdovina of Russia, Virgina Thrasher of USA, Snjezana Pejcic of Poland and Siling Yi of China.

The expectations for a better show from the Indian duo of Chandela and Paul, who had won the gold and silver in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, were dashed as they were found  wanting in a top-class field.

23-year-old Chandela had secured an Olympic berth for her country by finishing third in the 10m Air Rifle in the 2015 ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea.

Later in the year, Chandela had won silver in the World Cup Final held in Munich.

Paul, who is also 23, had won an Olympic quota for India with a silver in the Asian Olympic Qualifying Competition in January.

FILE IMAGE: Apurvi Chandela in action in the 10m Air Rifle shooting event.

Photographs: Paul Gilham/Getty Images