Paralympics: Singhraj, Narwal qualify for final in Mixed 50m air pistol

India's chances of winning a medal in the P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 at the Tokyo Paralympic Games doubled with both Singhraj and Manish Narwal qualifying for the final on Saturday.

Singhraj shot superbly to surge into the final with a score of 536 and finish fourth while Narwal had a topsy-turvy round as he went up and down the table a few times before finishing seventh with a score of 533 as eight shooters made it to the final.

Uzbekistan's Server Ibragimov, China's Lou Xiaolong, and Iran's female shooter Sareh Javanmardi finished with identicals score of 539 but the Uzbek took the top position as he had shot nine pellets into the inner-10 circle (9x) as compared to eight by the Chinese and five by the Iranian shooter.

Russian Paralympic Committee's (RPC) Sergey Malyshev, who had shot a world record score of 555 in Lima, Peru in June this year, could manage only 532 on Saturday as he booked the eighth and last spot in the final. Serbia's Zivko Papaz and China's Yang Chao are the other two shooters in the final.

Narwal, who holds the world record for the final, scored 79 in his fourth series of 10 shots and also had an 88 on his sixth turn. These two low scores pulled him down and he had to be satisfied with the seventh position.

Narwal shot a 91 in the first round of 10 shots, followed it up with 93 and another 91 before disaster struck in the fourth series. He responded with a 91 before ending his qualification round with a score of 88 in the last-10 shots.

Singhraj was more consistent as he shot 90 or more in four rounds. He started with 93, 90, and 91 in first three rounds followed by two 86s before winding off with a 90.

--IANS

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