Explained: How small is the target that elevates Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh’s Olympic achievements in shooting?

Draw a dot on a piece of paper. Walk 10 metres away. Close an eye and now try to see if you can even see that dot. That’s what an Olympic shooter is dealing with. That’s what Arjun Babuta narrowly missed out on when he hit a 9.5 for his last shot at the 2024 Paris Olympics to finish 4th. Even when you hit the dot, you might be mere millimetres away from the centre of it, a ridiculous proposition in the first place. That’s Manu Bhaker’s second-last shot of 10.3, considered an inner ten, which if higher, could have seen her win a different medal. These are the incredibly tiny margins that shooters live and die on.

Why is the 10 ‘mark’ so tough to hit in shooting?

First of all, the ‘10’ isn’t really a ring, like the other shots are. To be precise, its entire diameter is 0.5mm in rifle shooting. In ISSF competitions, like these Olympics, the boards are electronic and in those, the targets are accurate to 0.001 of a millimetre. Essentially a shooter is hoping to hit the centre of the miniscule target to get the highest 10-point shot (From 10.1 to 10.9).

Was Babuta’s 9.5 shot bad?

Hitting the high tens consistently is the name of the game. But considering the occasion, hitting your last shot, knowing elimination from the competition is imminent, is an arena most would never be a part of. The experience is uniquely his. In the mixed zone later, he said that he felt he executed the shot well, but was now fighting with the thoughts in his own head over where things went wrong in that last shot.

India’s Manu Bhaker prepares to compete in the 10m air pistol mixed team bronze medal event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP/PTI)

How is a 10.9 shot judged?

When the scores are in decimals, then the shots are graded on how close they are to the centre of the 10-ring. Which essentially means that a shot that’s 0.05 away from bring perfectly in the centre, is graded as a 10.9. A shot under 10.0, is literally a shot outside the ‘dot’ that shooters are supposed to make.

That is how incredibly tough air rifle, and air pistol shooting is. Introduce the anxiety-ridden arena of an Olympic or World Championship atmosphere, add a generous helping of India’s hunger for medals, especially in shooting, and then put all of that in the midst of the best shooters in the world – and then shoot at a target 10 metres away and shoot at the dot in the middle of that target. It’s damn near impossible to be accurate.

In pistol shooting, the diameter of the ten ring goes up to 11.5mm, and the inner ten ring is 5.0mm, which at least looks like a circle. But the pistol discipline at the Olympics is a one-hand sport, so they lack the control that a rifle shooter can execute, which brings its own set of challenges.

Why’s Manu Bhaker’s second bronze medal such an elite performance?

13 shots – that’s what all four shooters in the bronze medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics 10m Air Pistol Mixed team events took individually. Now, Bhaker was the best shooter out of all four. An inner 10 is a shot that’s 10.3 and above. The 22-year-old, fresh from an intense 10m Air pistol Women’s qualification, and then final, and then another mixed-team qualification, hit seven of her thirteen shots by 10.4 or above — a truly incredible finals performance. She was elite at a moment in time where it mattered.

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Sarabjot Singh did extremely well in a moment of distress for India where the Koreans had gained four points when India just needed two to win the bronze. He hit a crucial 10.2, when Bhaker’s last shot was a 9.4 and ensured that those last two points to carry India for their bronze. He hit four inner tens in his 13 shots.

Oh Ye Jin, who has carried South Korea brilliantly at these Olympics, shot six inner 10s of her 13. But in a sport of the finest margins, Bhaker, who missed out on silver in her individual event by 0.1, hit one inner 10 more than Jin and difference or not, she simply was the best shooter at the range.

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