India's Rahi Sarnobat competes during the rapid stage of the women's 25m pistol qualification event. (PTI Photo) NEW DELHI: India were left ruing a costly and extraordinary lapse by experienced shooter Rahi Sarnobat after a rare miss in the women’s 25m pistol team event derailed their medal hopes at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday.

Sarnobat’s shot yielded zero points in the fourth series, a setback that proved decisive as India finished fifth, outside the medal positions. The Indian trio of Esha Singh, Manu Bhaker and Sarnobat combined for a score of 1727-56x in the team competition.

China won gold with 1743-68x, while South Korea (1735-65x) and Chinese Taipei (1734-48x) took silver and bronze, respectively. For Sarnobat, a former Asian Games gold medallist, the incident was particularly difficult to explain.

The shooter herself admitted that she had never experienced anything similar in her career." This is the first time that something like this has happened in my career and I do not know how it happened," Sarnobat said.

Her unexpected zero in a competition where every shot counts left India with little room to rec over and turned what could have been a medal-winning performance into a disappointing fifth-place finish. Asian Games Full Coverage | Medal Tally | ScheduleHow one miss changed India’s medal prospectsThe women’s 25m pistol event featured both team and individual competitions, with India fielding three experienced shooters in Esha, Manu and Sarnobat.

While Esha kept India’s hopes alive in the individual event, the team’s medal ambitions took a major hit during the qualification rounds. Sarnobat endured a difficult fourth series, registering a score of just 39.

The series consisted of five shots, and her performance included the rare miss that resulted in zero points. The setback was particularly damaging in a tightly contested competition, where the margin separating the medal-winning teams was relatively small.

Sarnobat eventually finished 30th in the individual qualification standings with a score of 568-16x. Her teammates also had contrasting fortunes in the individual event.

Esha qualified for the final in eighth place with 580-22x, while Manu narrowly missed out, finishing 11th with 579-18x. India’s final team score of 1727-56x left them 7 points behind bronze medallists Chinese Taipei and just 8 points behind silver medallists South Korea.