Sandhu, Chenai crash out of Rio men's trap event

Indian trap shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai crashed out of the race to the semi-finals after finishing 16th and 19th at the Olympics here on Monday.

Sandhu, in his fourth Olympics, lost out after scoring a cumulative total of 115 while Chenai scored one less to be out of the fray on the second day of qualifications at the Olympic Shooting centre.

Earlier, on Sunday both Sandhu and Chenai kept their hopes alive by finishing 17th and 19th respectively on the first day of the competitions.

Sandhu, who shot a total score of 68 with his three rounds reading 23, 23 and 22 on Sunday, scored a perfect 25 in the fourth round. Starting the day at 17th, he made rapid strides to rise to seventh after the fourth round, raising hopes for a top eight finish.

Another round of 25 would have put him into a shoot-off, but a 22 in the final series of 25 shots in the five series qualification meant that he would have to be satisfied with a 16th position finish.

Meanwhile, Chenai, who started the day at 67 with his three rounds reading 22, 23 and 22, added another 24 and 23 to take his cumulative score to 114 on Monday.

Chenai got off to an impressive start with some good shots before slipping to 21st position in the final round before recovering somehow only to end up at 19th and bow out of the race.

Italian Giovanni Pellielo, who finished third on Sunday rose to atop the qualification table with a cumulative score of 122 while England's Edward Ling's finished second with 120. Croatia's Josip Glasnovic shot 120 to finish third.

The semi-finals will be played later on Monday.

--IANS

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