Tokyo: A technical snag in Manu Bhaker’s weapon that had cost her a place in the finals of the 10m air pistol competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Sunday, which resulted in a time-lapse of nearly 18 minutes could have been considerably reduced had anyone approached him from the Indian camp for help, feels Francesco Repich of Swiss gun-manufacturing company Morini. Repich went on to further add that had professional help been sought, the pistol could have been repaired quickly.

“Today (Monday), we had the opportunity to speak with the Indonesian judge who dealt with the case of Manu Bhaker. The judge also does gun maintenance in his club and therefore knows the problems well,” said Repich in his Facebook post.

“He (judge) told us the following: ‘The (Indian) coaches said the pistol had slightly loosened the charge screw. He followed the athlete and the coach into the room next door where he saw the coach screw the lever back and replace the electronics without knowing why. Time taken about 10 minutes. In his opinion, more qualified people would have taken less (time). In the end he (judge) asked the coach if sighting shots were needed and the answer was no!'” wrote Repich on Monday.

“It does not seem necessary to post a video with the interview with the judge.”

Repich also said that he had arrived at the venue on July 22 and was always there early to help out with the repair and maintenance of guns, Indians included, but he was not approached.

“We arrived (in) the (July) 22 in Tokyo. Today (Monday) we arrived at the range at 7:30. Manu has a spare gun with same setting as pistol 1. Now is 13:24 and I have not seen ANY of the indian team until now! The problem is that many coaches thinks they are technician too. When you do mistake it is always easy to give to others instead of taking responsibility of what you do!” wrote Repich.

“I am very attached to many shooters of the Indian national team. Some are very young (just 19 years old) and have recently moved from junior to senior competitions. This is already a very difficult step for a young person and for this they must be followed and directed because they are not yet trained athletes,” the post further added.

Early on Sunday morning, Repich had also posted a picture of his enclosure at the shooting range on Facebook, and wrote, “Morini technical repair place at the Tokyo Olympic games. For people that don’t know where we are, we are at the left of the weapon deposit office!”

Indian pistol coach, Ronak Pandit had issued a statement on Sunday saying that, “The cocking lever of the weapon broke after 16 shots. We had to get it changed. She (Manu) had 44 shots remaining in 56 mins and then when we started it was 44 shots in 38mins. To change the lever, the grip and the trigger circuit has to be removed. They were put back but then the circuit would not work so we had to change that again. She was placed fourth when all this happened and by the time she resumed, others were in their fourth series while she was still on her second. No extra time is allowed according to the rules and the pressure at the end was too much. We are proud of the way she shot.”

(With IANS Inputs)