India, Sept. 23 -- India's much-acclaimed and highly-decorated women pistol shooters, rather stunningly, came a cropper at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the final while Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh could not even make it.

That also meant a team medal, which seemed one of India's safest medal bets in the Games, did not materialise after qualification. The Indian trio collectively finished fourth behind Vietnam, South Korea and, of course, China.

At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou three years ago, India had an individual champion (Palak Gulia, with a Games record no less), a silver medallist (Esha) and a team silver from the 10m event. The blank this time is bound to be among the Indian contingent's mo...