Rio de Janeiro: The frustration was writ large on Abhinav Bindra's face on Monday afternoon, here. Just when everyone around was expecting him to win India's first medal in the Rio Olympics, the country's finest-ever rifle shooter faltered to bow out with a fourth place finish in a shootout in the 10 metres air rifle event.

Famous for keeping his emotions under wrap even in adverse conditions, Bindra's disappointment was evident. He bit his lip for a second and then looked up at the ceiling of the shooting range before walking out with a painful smile on his face.

"That's the way the Olympic goes," said Bindra later. "All said and done, I am proud of my performance. It was the last day of my career and I would have wanted it to end in a better manner. But it just happened like that... I had no control on it. To finish in the top four in the world is also a huge thing," he added.

Bindra revealed he had a problem with his equipment, but didn't cite it as an excuse.

"When I arrived in the morning, the table I was sitting on collapsed and my sight (the device placed on top of the gun to help a shooter take aim) broke down. I replaced it with the one I use in India, but that was okay," Bindra said.

"I have reached three Olympic finals and it is not a bad show. I didn't think I would reach even one. Sport is not mathematics. I am very surprised at how far I have come after London. It is easy to say I could have won a medal, but it didn't happen. That's the reality, so let's accept it and move on," he said.

When asked about his future plans, Bindra said: "I am going to change my shooting range into a vegetable garden. I have a rifle on sale. Do you want it?"

Given the status and achievements of the Chandigarh based shooter, it was hard to accept that curtain came down on his great career without a medal; that too when he looked in dashing form. After all, he came within 0.1 point of winning a second medal at the pinnacle of world sport. In the end, he had to remain contended with the fourth place with cumulative score of 163.8.

Having entered the final with a stunning recovery in the qualification rounds earlier, the 33-year-old Bindra held his composure to move up the table and then into the top three. However, just towards the end he fell back to fourth and then fell agonizingly short of claiming the bronze - which went to Russia's Vladimir Maslennnikov.

The gold was claimed by Italian Niccolo Campriani - his second in Olympics - and the Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish took the silver. Campriani was full of praise for Bindra saying the Indian had been a great ambassador of the game over the years.

The Italian, himself a colossus figure in the shooting circuit, said he was amazed by the popularity of Bindra. "There was so much noise made by Bindra's supporters in the hall that I had problems in concentrating. Well, it was not Bindra's fault. After all, he is a former Olympic champion and a world champion. Today was the last day of his career but I was probably the better shooter today," said the gold medal winner.

The Indian fans were truly ecstatic at the start when Bindra was going great guns. While the senior officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were present, sports minister Vijay Goel specially came down to watch the event.

In the first series of three shots, Bindra shot 29.9. In the second, he dropped down to seventh place with a score of 60.1. In the third, super shots worth 10.7 and 10.8 moved him to third and into bronze medal position. Bindra then moved to the second position as he nailed another 10.7, moving to within 0.5 behind the leader.

As the tension grew, Bindra began the sixth series with a 9.7 shot. His second was 10.5. It finally down to his last shot, which was a 10, but that was not enough to win him the bronze. He was tied with Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine for third spot with 163.8 points after 16 shots. In the shootout, Bindra, playing in his fifth and final Olympics, shot a 10 while Kulish got a score of 10.5 which made Kulish enter the medal rounds.

Gagan Narang, who was eliminated in the qualifiers with a 23rd place finish, said he wanted Abhinav to go out in a better manner. "He was the inspiration for a generation of shooters. His gold medal effort in the Beijing Olympics took the sport to a great height in India."