Jung becomes first pistol shooter to qualify for olympics

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) Ace marksman Samresh Jung became India's first ever pistol shooter to win an olympic quota place despite finishing fourth in 10m Air Pistol event at the ISS World Cup in Munich today.

Jung shot 682.1 (584+98.1) and was tied at fourth place with a Polish shooter and had to go through a nerve wrecking single shot shoot off to decide the quota place for Beijing Olympics as the top three shooters had already qualified.

The Indian shot 98.1 (10.7, 10.7. 10.3, 8.7, 10.1, 8.4, 9.4, 9.4, 10.0, 10.4) in the final round to add to his preliminary round 584(100+96+97+96+99+96) to total 682.1.

The gold in the event was won by Mikhail Nestruev of Russia who shot 686.6 (584+102.6), while the silver and bronze were pocketed by Yury Dauhapolau of Belarus and Pavol Kopp of Slovakia who scored 683.6 (583+100.6) and 682.5 (583+99.5) respectively.

Before Jung, Abha Dhillon and Jaspal Rana had both represented India in the pistol events with a wild card at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics respectively.

Seven Indian shooters have already won olympic quota places for next year's Beijing Olympics.

UNI