Shirur eighth, Anjali fails

India's Suma Shirur finished eighth among eight competitors in the final of the women's 10 metre Air Rifle at the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre on Saturday with a total of 497.2.

China's Du Li stole the gold in the last round of shooting from Russia's Lioubov Galkina, who shot an Olympic record of 399 to qualify in first place for the final. Du Li broke the Olympic record with her last shot to total 502.0

Galkina claimed the silver with a score of 501.5 while Katerina Kurkova of the Czech Republic claimed the bronze.

Galkina looked all set for the gold with the best score of the preliminaries but an awful final round saw the 22-year-old Chinese shooter clinch the first gold of the Games.

Earlier, Shirur qualified for the final with a tally of 396 in the qualifying round. In the final ten rounds she shot 101.2.

However, ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat did not even qualify for the final, scoring a poor 393 out of a possible 400. Her first round of 96 was disappointing and virtually made sure she would not qualify for the final. Though she recovered with scores of 100, 98 and 99 in the next three rounds respectively it was not enough to get her into the final.

Results:

Women's 10m air rifle (40 shots) - Final standing

1. Li DU (China)
Total Points:502.0
Qual' Round:398
Final Round:104.0 (Final Olympic Record)

2. Lioubov Galkina (Russia)
Total Points:501.5
Qual' Round:399 (Olympic Record)
Final Round:102.5

3. Katerina Kurkova (Czech)
Total Points:501.1
Qual' Round:398
Final Round:103.1

4. Yinghui Zhao (China)
Total Points:500.8
Qual' Round:398
Final Round:102.8

5. Tatiana Goldobina (Russia)
Total Points:499.5
Qual' Round:397
Final Round:102.5

6. Sonja Pfeilschifter (Germany)
Total Points:498.7
Qual' Round:396
Final Round:102.7

7. Laurence Brize (France)
Total Points:497.9
Qual' Round:396
Final Round:101.9

8. Suma Shirur (India)
Total Points:497.2
Qual' Round:396
Final Round:101.2

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20. Anjali Bhagwat (India)
Total Points:393.0
Qual' Round:393
Did not qualify for the final