Date:15/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/15/stories/2003061503431600.htm

Sport - Shooting

Indian women disappoint

NEW DELHI JUNE 14. The Indian women were unable to perform a brave act against intense competition in the 10-metre air rifle event in the shooting World Cup in Munich on Saturday.

Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat shot a 395 and finished joint 24th in a field of 121 competitors in the women's air rifle event. The gold medallist of the World Cup in Fort Benning, Anjali had a series of 98, 99, 100 and 98.

Suma Shirur, who had made the final of the last World Cup in Zagreb, shot a 393 with a sequence of 98, 99, 99 and 97. Deepali Deshpande had missed a quota place by a slender 0.3 point margin in Fort Benning, but shot a below par 390 with a series of 97, 98, 97 and 98 to end joint 63rd.

The competition was so strong that five shooters with a score of 397 failed to make the final.

Lioubov Galkina of Russia walked away with the gold, as she shot a world record 400 and followed that with a 103.3 in the final. It was a second 400 by Galkina following a similar attempt in Munich, in the prestigious World Cup Final last year.

Sun Hwa Seo of Korea and Germany's Sonja Pfeilschifter took the silver and bronze respectively with scores of 502.7 and 500.8.

Poland's Agata Hatalska, with a total of 498.3 following a 399 in the preliminary phase, got the Olympic quota despite finishing fifth.

Shooting for the Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS), Pournima Gawhane came up with a creditable 395 (98, 99, 99 and 99). Raj Kumari had a 389 (97, 98, 96 and 98).

Earlier, in the women's sport rifle 3-position event, Anjali was joint 23rd with a 576, six points behind her career-best 582. Deepali Deshpande shot a 574 to be joint 36th while Suma Shirur had a 573 for a joint 39th position in a field of 95 shoooters.

Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany took the gold with a 687.6 following an impressive 589 in the preliminary phase.