Three shooting events, four shooters, a chance at glory or another window of opportunity gone out of, well, the window. Having disappointed in pretty much every single shooting event, the likes of Gagan Narang, Chain Singh, Mairaj Ahmad Singh and Gurpreet Singh will take their shot at redemption on Friday.
Barring that heartbreak for Abhinav Bindra, when he missed out on a medal in a shoot-off, the Indian shooters have not even been close to contending for a pace on the podium. The great hope that was Jitu Rai bit the dust in both his events, while the rest of the strong Indian contingent failed to cope with the pressure that comes with competing in the Olympics.
Narang has previous experience of winning a medal at the Olympics, when he came back with a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle, but having failed to make an impression in that same event in Rio 2016, the onus will be on the experienced shooter to make amends in the 50m rifle prone.
The 50m Rifle Prone is not Narang's pet event, but he does have the class to go through to the final, where anything is possible. It is all about handling the pressure on the big stage, something Chain Singh will also try and do with Narang in the same event.
While there will be two Indians participating in the 50m Rifle Prone, there will be one each in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol and men's Skeet.
The 25m Rapid Fire Pistol will see Gurpreet Singh representing India, and he will want to do a lot better than his last event, when he failed to qualify for the final of the 10m Air Pistol.
Mairaj will also be keen to make his mark in the men's Skeet. The Indian won a silver medal in the ISSF World Cup in Rio in April of this year, so he knows what it feels like to win a medal in this country. Mairaj will hope to take the good vibes from that performance into this event of the Rio Olympics, and if he manages to find that same kind of form, you never know, a first medal for India could be on its way.
Where to Watch Live
The 50m Rifle Prone qualifying is scheduled for a 5.30 p.m. IST (9 a.m. local time) start, while the final is set to begin at 7.30 p.m. IST (11 a.m. local time).
Men's Skeet qualification is scheduled for a 6 p.m. IST (9.30 a.m. local time) start.
The 25m rapid fire pistol event qualifying stage one will begin at 8.45 p.m. IST (12.15 p.m. local time). Note: The qualifying events are not usually shown live on TV, because it is not a part of the live coverage of the Olympic Broadcasting Services.
India: TV: DD National and Star Sports. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK and Ireland: TV: BBC. Live Streaming: BBCiPlayer.
Brazil: TV: SporTV, Globo, Fox Sports and ESPN.
USA: TV: NBC. Live Streaming: NBC Sports live extra, NBC Olympics and NBC Olympics app.
Canada: TV: TSN, RDS. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
Australia: TV: Channel 7, 7Two and 7Mate. Live Streaming: Channel 7 online.
Middle East: TV: Bein Sports Arabia. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
