Guangzhou: India's shooting coach Stanislav Lapidus on Saturday claimed that Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was robbed of a spot in the finals of the men's 10m air rifle event due to a scoring glitch.
"He definitely scored a 9 on the 42nd shot but was given only a 7. I saw it again through the scope and the mark was a nine. I went to Abhinav and he also thought it was closer to 9 but was not sure.
"We did not protest in the team's interest as an unreasonable protest would have cut two points from the team score," said Lapidus after the incident at the Aoti Shooting Range.
"He had the team's interest in his mind when he took the decision. And later that affected his concentration (during the shoot off for the final three qualifying places for the medal round). Anybody would be affected. He lost his focus," said Lapidus after Bindra was totally off target in the shoot-off in which he finished fifth and last, with teammate Sanjeev Rajput getting the fourth spot.
"It was Abhinav's call but no one can give guarantee (of the protest being upheld)," he said.
In this event, India's Gagan Narang claimed a silver behind China's Liu Qinan.
Lapidus was also critical of the range and said it was a very difficult one.
"The back lighting was not good for the shooters at all," he said.
Chief coach Sunny Thomas concurred with Lapidus and said it was a 9 definitely.
"But it's risky to protest and if it is turned down you would lose two points. No one will know till the event is completed whether it was right or wrong (score)," he said.
Abhinav Bindra also said that he did not want to risk lodging the protest as the team could have lost the silver medal if it had not been upheld.
"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," he said.
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