Palembang: A gold medallist at Gold Coast CWG, 15-year-old shooter Anish Bhanwala produced a below-par performance to finish without a medal in the men’s 25m rapid fire air pistol event at the Asian Games here Saturday.
Bhanwala could not repeat Friday’s fine performance on the second day of qualification Saturday and lost out on the finals berth. He finished ninth overall with 576 points. Another Indian in fray, Shivam Shukla, suffered a washout and ended 11th with 569.
The top six qualified for the finals where China’s Zhaonan Yao won the gold with a Games record score of 34 points.
Bhanwala, who is from Karnal, was in third spot after the qualification round, Friday. “I was under pressure yesterday (Friday) but not today. I just shot badly. It can happen sometimes. I am disappointed but need to move on,” Bhanwala said looking ahead with the World Championships beginning in Changwon, August 31.
“There were expectations but like I said, in shooting it is all about how you perform on the day. I could not do it today and I will try to do better at the Worlds,” added the teenager.