Date:29/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/29/stories/2007012905102000.htm

Sport - Shooting

Gagan Narang wins silver

New Delhi: Shooter Gagan Narang won the silver medal in the men's 10m air rifle event on the concluding day of the International air gun competition at Munich, Germany.

Narang shot 596 in the qualification and a final round of 104.2 to aggregate 700.2 in the second match of the event on Saturday.

The result was decided through a shoot-off as the Indian and Matthew Emmons of the U.S. shot an identical score. Emmons scored 700.2 (597+103.2).

In the shoot-off, Narang shot 10.1 as compared to 10.0 shot by Emmons, who had to be content with the bronze medal.

Narang, who fired three perfect rounds of 100 in the qualifying rounds, was just a whisker away from gold winner Zoltan Balaz of Slovakia, who scored 701.1 (597+104.1).

Suma Shirur won the bronze in the women's 10m air rifle event. Suma shot a score of 500.9 with 398 (99, 100, 99, 100) in the qualifications and 102.9 in the finals.

Anjali Bhagwat and Tejaswani Sawant finished 19th and 30th respectively. Anjali scored 396 (99, 99, 99, 99) and Tejaswini 394 (97, 98, 99, 100).

The other Indian in the fray, Avneet Kaur Sidhu, finished 58th with a score of 392 (98, 99, 97, 98).

Sonja Pfeilschifter of Bayern won the gold medal with a tally of 501.7 (398, 103.7) while Eva Joo of Hungary won the silver with 501.3 (398, 103.3). — PTI