LONDON: Indian Olympic shooting champion Abhinav Bindra crashed out of the London Games on Monday, failing to repeat his feat in Beijing, where he became his country’s first individual gold medallist.

Bindra, 29, was in contention to reach the final of the men’s 10m air rifle competition at the Royal Artillery Barracks but slipped down the rankings to finish 16th in qualifying. Only the top eight go through to the final.

The Indian, who has slipped to number 20 in the world, fell away towards the end of the session, admitting: “It didn’t go well in my last 10 shots.”

“It was hard at the end because it was closing in,” he added. “There was a lot of noise. It was difficult to keep the momentum going but today I just did not have it in me to keep that going to the last.”

“I’m looking forward to going home. I’ve been away for six weeks,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being with my family for a while.”

When asked about whether he was eyeing the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, he said: “Perhaps, why not? I don’t know.” AFP