Suma Shirur hit a perfect 400

New Delhi: Rifle shooter Suma Shirur on Friday shot a perfect 400 to equal the world record en route to winning the women’s 10m air rifle title in the Asian shooting championships in Kuala Lumpur.

The gold medal winning effort also gave her a berth in the Athens Olympics alongside Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat.

After shooting 400 in the qualifying round, which made the Indian only the sixth shooter to achieve the feat, Shirur returned a score of 102.3 in the final to bag the gold medal.

India also won the silver medal through Deepali Deshpande. Deepali, who had won an Olympics quota place in sport rifle three position Thursday, was lying in fourth spot after the qualifying round with 397. But she shot a superb 104.4 in the final to grab the silver ahead of Akshyonova of Kazakhstan and Li Young of Korea. Anjali, who competed only for the minimum qualifying score, shot 398/400, the National Rifle Association of India said in a press release here.

The Indian women’s team comprising Suma, Deepali and Pournima Zanane (391) won the silver with 1188/1200 behind Korea (1189). The bronze went to China (1188) who lost the silver to India on the last card basis.

In the men’s double trap event, only Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made it to the final with a score of 134/150. Rathore, who has already booked his ticket to Athens, shot 42/50 in the final to end sixth.

The other Indians in the fray, Morad Ali Khan and Ronjon Sodhi shot 122 and 120, respectively. In the junior championships, Ronak Pandit continued his golden run winning his third gold in the sports pistol. The silver went to Bhrigu Dutt. (PTI)