An ordinary qualification round put paid to Indian marksman Gagan Narang's podium chances pushing him to fifth place in the men's 10m Air Rifle event at the ISSF World Cup Final in Granada, Spain.
Gagan shot a total of 697.7 which included an average 595 in the qualification round but a superb 102.7 in the finals to finish just 0.4 points away from the bronze medal winner.
Gagan was tied fifth with Jozef Gonci of Slovakia after both shot an identical score of 697.7. But in the shoot-off, the Indian fired 10.3 while Gonci scored 9.5.
Earlier, Gagan missed some crucial points in the fourth and sixth round in an otherwise impressive series of 100, 100, 100, 98, 99, 98 in the qualifications.
He tried to make amends by firing his final shots above 10 but to not avail. He fired 10.4, 10.1, 10.0, 10.1, 10.4, 10.4, 10.0, 10.6, 10.2, 10.5 in the final.
"The pressure was immense in the final as this was my first time, it was also a really great learning experience and hope it will add to my future performances," Gagan said after the match on Wednesday.
Only top 12 shooters, on the basis of their performances in the ISSF World Cups, are allowed to take part in elite event.
Thomas Farnik of Austria won the gold medal by creating a new Final World Record of 703.1. He shot a superb 599 (99, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100) in the qualifications and 104.1 in the finals.
Tianyou Liu of China bagged the silver with a score of 698.2 (595+103.2) and the bronze went to Qinan Zhu also of China for shooting 698.1 (595+103.1).
