The Hindu : Sport / Shooting : Shweta finishes sixth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 06, 2007
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Shweta finishes sixth

NEW DELHI: Shweta Chaudhary took the sixth place in air pistol in a strong field of 88 in the World Cup shooting at Bangkok on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Haryana girl, who proved her potential by finishing fourth in the junior air pistol event in the World Championship at Lahti in 2002, shot a 384 out of 400 to make the final.

Lucky break

For Shweta, it was a lucky break into her maiden final in a World Cup as only two shooters with scores of 384 made the last eight out of five with similar score. Her last two cards of 97, after identical scores of 95 in the first two series, helped Shweta pip three others for the last two spots.

The gold medallist in the Asia championship in 2005, Shweta shot an impressive series of 10.0, 9.4, 9.9, 9.2, 10.0, 10.3, 10.1, 9.6, 10.0 and 10.2 in the final to shoot up to the sixth spot.

The gold medallist Olga Kousnetsova of Russia, who followed a 389 with a 99.8 in the final, took the Olympic quota place as well.

Bindra, Rajput in final

In men's air rifle, two Indians, world Champion Abhinav Bindra and Sanjeev Rajput, made the final, not a bad bargain in a field of 86. Both had already gained Olympic quota places, in air rifle and free rifle 3-position events respectively. They took the seventh and eighth spots, following below-par fare in the finals, while Petar Gorsa of Croatia, who also had a 595 in the preliminary phase, shot a 102.6 in the final to take the fourth spot and the Olympic quota place.

The results: Men's air rifle: 1. Peter Sidi (Hun) 699.0 (597); 2. Alin George Moldoveanu (Rou) 698.4 (597); 3. Jozef Gonci (Svk) 698.2 (596); 7. Abhinav Bindra 695.9 (595); 8. Sanjeev Rajput 695.0 (595), 23. Gagan Narang 593. MQS: P.T. Raghunath 591, Navnath Faratade 586.

Women's air pistol: 1. Olga Kousnetsova (Rus) 488.8 (389); 2. Miro Sagun Lewandowska (Pol) 486.7 (387); 3. Sonia Franquet (Esp) 486.3 (385); 6. Shweta Chaudhary 482.7 (384); 36. Sonia Rai 379; 67. Harveen Srao 371. MQS: Anisa Sayyed 378, Annu Raj Singh 376.

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