Joydeep Karmakar misses bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone event after setting an Olympic record in the qualifying stage

Joydeep Karmakar narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone event after setting an Olympic record in the qualifying stage  at the London Games on Friday.

In Karmakar’s event, after scoring 595 out of 600 before qualifying for the finals through a shoot-off with eight others, who were all tied in fourth place, the 32-year-old Kolkata lad shot consistently well in the finals, but still finished outside the medal bracket.

The one point difference that Karmakar conceded to the eventual bronze medallist, Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, proved to be decisive in the battle for the third place.

Karmakar shot sequence of 10.1, 10.6, 10.7, 10.5, 10.7, 10.2, 10.0, 10.2, 10.7, 10.4 for a total of 104.1, while Debevec fired a 105.0, a difference of less than one.

The gold medal went to Sergei Martynov of Belarus, who created a new world record of 705.5 and the silver was picked by Belgian Lionel Cox (701.2).
Earlier today, Gagan Narang failed to replicate the form that fetched him the 10m air rifle bronze as he crashed out of the 50m rifle prone event in the qualifying stage.