It was the second most-prized possession in Lt Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s armoury. He won the Beijing Olympics ‘quota’ place only a couple of months ago, at the Cairo World Cup. The first one, of course, majestically adores the wall at his residence. He had won the precious silver with it two years ago at Athens. Both are the usually custom-made Perrazis that suited his profile.But on Monday, at Zagreb, the second gun ‘misfired’ and, as Rathore had suspected before embarking on the World Championship trip to Croatia, his worst fears came true. The new barrel refused to cooperate at a crucial time and the double trap shooter, after leading the field comfortably in the first two rounds (47+48), found himself finishing eighth with 139. He shot 44 in the last of the qualifiers. Maybe, a single shot ‘in’ would have seen him through. But it was not to be on the day.Incidentally, this was the Perrazi that was lost in transit and found later after Rathore spent some anxious weeks after returning from Cairo. Though the gun was found and returned to him by Lufthansa, the barrel was seemingly badly damaged. Emotionally he was so attached to it that Rathore, despite the problem, wanted to use it and had left for Italy to fix the barrel weeks before the world meet. ‘‘On any other day it would have been a decent score. But I shot a poor 44 in the third round,’’ Rathore told The Indian Express over phone from Zagreb. ‘‘But I am not unduly worried about it as I have to look ahead,’’ he added.Rathore, who had a bronze in last edition at Cyprus in 2003, said his gun was “badly damaged” in the three weeks when it was misplaced by the airlines.Rathore admitted it was going to be always difficult to catch with one’s form after such a major change. ‘‘I did have a little stint in Italy, but I was yet to settle down. In the end, I can say, it (the barrel) made the difference between being ‘in’ and going ‘out’,’’ he said with a tinge of sadness, adding, ‘‘I am happy I have been able to maintain my top-10 position.’’What next? ‘‘Well, I have two immediate targets: At Grenada (Spain) the World Champions’ finals in the first week of November and the Doha Asian Games a month later. But before that I will return to base — Dr Karni Singh Ranges — and get ‘gun-fit’ again.’’Meanwhile, Britain’s Richard Faulds had a perfect 50 in the last round to top the list of six finalists with a score of 142 (46+46+50), while three others — Nam Wang and Binyuan Hu (both China) and Roland Gerebics of Hungary also had shot 142 to follow Faulds in that order. The fifth and sixth spots went to Joshua Richmond of the US (141) and Vitaly Fokeev of Russia (140+4).The Russian won gold in the finals with a perfect 50 for a total of 190.
