Mansher bags olympic quota in men's trap at World Cup

New Delhi, June 10 (UNI) Ace shooter Mansher Singh became the ninth Indian to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics despite finishing fifth in the men's trap event at the ISSF World Cup at Lonato, Italy.

Mansher shot a total of 140, including a superb 122 in qualification rounds with three perfect series of 25. But for a below-par final round, in which he carded only 18 out of 25, he would have finished at a higher position.

The Delhi-based shooter edged out Abdulrahman Al Faihan of Kuwait in the tie-shoot for the quota place.

He is the second Indian to have booked a berth in the same event after Manavjit Singh Sandhu won the other quota when he became the World Champion in Zagreb, Croatia.

According to ISSF rules, one country can have maximum two Olympic berths in each event.

Meanwhile, Manavjit, who was competing in a major competition after a gap of five months, finished eighth with a score of 120.

He was tied with four more shooters for a place in the final round but the Indian was eliminated after missing his sixth target in the nerve-wrecking shoot off.

The third Indian in the event, Anwer Sultan shot 114 (24, 20, 23, 23, 24) to finish 53rd in a strong field of 149 shooters.

Mola Massimiliano of Italy fired 147 (124+23) to equal the final world record and win the gold medal while Vella Adam of Australia bagged silver with a score of 142 (121+21) and Alipov Alexey of Russia scored 141 (120+21) for the bronze, according to information received here today.

UNI