Olympic champion Bindra says technical glitch hit his chances

GUANGZHOU - Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra claimed Saturday that problems in electronic scoring cost him a place in the final of the 10-metre air rifle event in the Asian Games here Saturday.

Bindra, who won the Olympic gold two years back in Beijing, said that he shot a 9 in the 42nd shot but it was counted as seven.

“I was 100 percent sure that my 42nd shot was a nine, but it was counted as seven. I did not want to lodge an appeal because if I had lost it, the team would have lost two points and also the medal,” said Bindra, after winning the team silver with Gagan Narang and Sanjeev Rajput at the Aaoti Ranges here.

Bindra and Rajput, however, failed to qualify for the final individual round, where Narang won the second silver for the country. Bindra and Rajput lost in the shoot-off after five shooters were tied at 593.

India’s rifle coach Stanislav Lapidus concurred with Bindra.

“Abhinav did score a 9 on the 42nd shot but it was counted as 7. I saw it again through the scope and saw it was nine. We did discus the matter and Abhinav also thought it was closer to 9 but was not sure. We did not protest in the interest of the team, because if it would have been turned down, the team would lost two points from the team score,” said Lapidus.

Lapidus said that the incident affected Bindra’s concentration.

“The incident surely affected his concentration, during the shoot off. It can happen to anybody,” he said.