Tehani Egodawela bows out of Olympics

Shooter Tehani Egodawela, the first to compete out of nine Sri Lankan athletes, had to bow out of Tokyo Olympics after placing 49th in the Women’s 10 m Air Rifle Shooting at the Asaka Range during the early hours of Saturday. 

Egodawela scored a total of 611.5 points, with 102.9, 103.8, 100.9, 102.3, 100.8 and 100.8 during the six rounds correspondingly, to record her second career best score. The Sri Lanka Navy shooter was placed in a healthy position after her three rounds, but could not improve on her scores during the final three rounds. 

“She could have added at least six more points. But with the training she received prior to Olympics back in Sri Lanka, Tehani performed well beyond expectations, which was eventually not on par with the international standards,” her manager Pradeep Edirisinghe stated.

Egodawela had her best score of 615 points coming at the Asian Shooting Championship in Qatar in 2019, the year she made her last international appearance before the COVID-19 pandemic caused heavy restrictions around the globe.

The Gold medal of the event was won by Chinese shooter Yang Qian, which incidentally was the first in Tokyo Games, while Russia’s Anastasia Galashina secured the Silver and Switzerland’s Nina Christen winning the Bronze.

The Gold medallist was placed sixth after the qualifying round with 628.7 points (104.3, 105.7, 103.6, 105.2, 104.9, 105.0) while the Russian shooter finished the qualifiers at eighth with 628.5 points (104.2, 105.2, 105.5, 104.9, 104.2, 104.5). Swiss shooter Christen was placed seventh with 628.5 points (103.9, 105.2, 104.0, 106.1, 104.3, 105.0). 

The top shooter among the lot in the qualifiers, Jeanette Hegg of Norway had a score of 632.8, followed by Heemoon Park of South Korea (631.7), Mary Tucker of USA (631.4), Eunji Kwon of South Korea (630.9) and Oceanne Muller of France (630.7). But all five shooters finished behind the three medalists in the final, which was conducted among the top 8.

The event also included India’s Apurvi Chandela, who holds the world record of 252.9 points in a Women’s 10 m Air Rifle final, but she was placed 36th in the qualifiers with a total score of 621.9 points. Gold medallist Yang’s score in the final was 251.8, a new Olympics record, while Silver medallist Galashina, almost won this Olympics’ first gold with a final score of 251.1.

With the comparisons set after yesterday’s event, what depicts presently is the need of an internationally qualified coach, who could take the standards and levels way higher of the Sri Lankan shooters to reach winning podiums. Egodawela will to return to Sri Lanka tomorrow.