The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Rathore takes gold, Olympic quota spot

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Monday, May 22, 2006

Sport

Sport - Shooting

Rathore takes gold, Olympic quota spot

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. — FILE Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

CAIRO: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore returned to form and clinched the Olympic quota place by winning the double trap gold medal at the Cairo World Cup shooting tournament on Sunday. He qualified as the sixth finalist after beating China's Qiang Pan in the play-off after the two were tied at 137 out of 150.

In the final Rathore was more relaxed than the others as he shot 45 out of 50 to tally a score of 182, one shot better than China's Binyuan Hu. Kuwait's Mashfi Almutairi, who made it to the final with 139, shot 42 to tie with Hu, but in the play-off he missed the sixth bird and settled for bronze.

Sweden's Hakan Dahlby made it to the final on the top of the list with 141, but squandered his position by shooting 38 in the final.

Rathore had the nerves of steel as after missing five birds out of 40, he shot all the remaining 10 to surprise the field. This is the fourth quota place that the shooters have grabbed so far. Rifle shooter Gagan Narang struck the first one at Guangzhou, China, winning gold medal in the 10m air rifle event. Anjali Bhagwat, in the rifle three-position took the second at Resende, Brazil. Manavjit Singh Sandhu won trap silver at Kerrville World Cup in the U.S. to win quota place for Beijing Olympics.

The results: 1. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Ind) (47, 46, 44, 45) 182, 2. Binyuan Hu (Chn) (47, 47, 45, 42) 181 (6), 3. Mashfi Almutairi (Kuw) (46, 46, 47, 42) 182 (5), 4. Hakan Dahlby (Swe) (46, 48, 47, 38) 179 (2), 5. Daliele Di Spigno (Ita) (47, 44, 47, 41) 179 (0), 6. Richard Faulds (Gbr) (47, 44, 48, 36) 175.

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