Rajput survives elimination round in shooting World Cup

New Delhi, Apr 7 (UNI) Beijing Olympics qualifier Sanjeev Rajput was the only Indian shooter to survive the elimination round in men's 50m rifle prone event in the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in USA.

Rajput shot 591 with a series of 99,99,98,98,99 and 98 to move into the qualification round.

The other two Indians in the fray, Surendra Rathod (584) and Sushil Ghaley (581) were eliminated.

''It was very chilly at the range and I felt extremely cold specially on my trigger finger but I kept my focus throughout the match,'' said Rajput who won an Olympic quota place in 50m rifle three position event two days ago.

Meanwhile, competing in the Minimum Qualification Section (MQS) of the event, ace shoooter Gagan Narang shot a score of 589.

In the women's 25m sports pistol event, Shweta Chowdhary finished 16th with a score of 576 (290+286) while Annu Raj Singh shot 568 (290+278) to finish 36th. The third Indian in the event, Sonia Rai could secure 46th with a score of 558 (279+279).

Sushma Singh had the best score of 577 (284+293) among the other five Indians in the MQS section of the event.

The gold in the event was won by Chen Ying of China with a score of 792.7 (585+207.7). Lenka Maruskova of Czech Republic won silver with a shot of 792.3 (587+205.3) while Tsogbadrah Munkzul of Mongolia pocketed the bronze with a score of 787.8 (582+205.8).

UNI