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Indias Manu Bhaker narrowly missed securing a quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after finishing fourth in the womens 25m pistol event at the ISSF World Championship 2026 in Doha on Tuesday, even as the Indian trio of Esha Singh, Bhaker and Divya TS clinched the team gold medal.
Bhaker, a two-time Olympic medallist, scored 27 in the individual final, finishing just outside the medal positions. Yang Jiin of the Republic of Korea won gold with a world-record score of 44, while Vietnams Trinh Thu Vinh secured silver with 43. Zhang Yueyue of China claimed bronze with 34, according to Olympics.com. The top three finishers in each of the 12 individual Olympic shooting events at the championships earn quota places for their respective countries for LA 2028, subject to the maximum allocation of two places per National Olympic Committee (NOC) in each event. Bhaker was eliminated just before the top three were decided, while compatriot Esha Singh finished eighth in the final with 11 points. Both Indian shooters had qualified for the eight-woman final, with Esha finishing third in qualification with 590-25x and Bhaker placing sixth with 587-24x. Divya TS narrowly missed the individual final after finishing 10th with 584-19x. Both Indians had a slow start in the final, with Bhaker hitting two out of five shots in the opening series, while Esha managed just one. Bhaker, however, recovered strongly and survived multiple shootouts to reach the top four. Tied with Zhang at 24 after seven rounds, Bhaker managed three hits in the eighth series, while the Chinese shooter registered a perfect score to secure her place on the podium. Bhaker had also reached the individual final in the 10m air pistol event, where she finished fifth. Despite missing out on an individual medal and an Olympic quota in the 25m pistol event, the Indian shooters combined to secure the team gold. The trio of Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Divya Thadigol Subbaraju recorded a combined score of 1761-68x to finish ahead of the Republic of Korea, which scored 1748-66x, and Vietnam, which took bronze with 1745-54x. Esha led the Indian team with 590-25x, followed by Bhaker with 587-24x and Divya with 584-19x. The team gold took India's overall medal tally at the Doha championships to nine, comprising two gold, five silver and two bronze medals. (ANI)
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