Marksmen sign off from World Cup on a dismal note

New Delhi, Apr 1 (UNI) Indian marksmen, who were basking in the glory of Commonwealth Games, faced the brunt of stiffer competition as they strayed off the target to end their campaign at the ISSF World Cup in Guangzhou, China on a dismal note.

On the last day today, even ace shooter Gagan Narang, who won the country's only gold in the cup in the 10m Air Rifle, failed to reproduce his magnificient form and finished a disappointing 31st in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Position event.

Narang scored 391 in Prone, 384 in Standing, and 382 in Kneeling positions to accumulate 1157 points.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev Rajput fared better than his celebrated compatriots and scored 1165 points (388, 385, 392) to finish 13th.

Abhinav Bindra was way behind at 39th spot with 1148 points (396, 373, 379). Norwegian Vebjoern Berg won the gold medal with 1273.8 points (1175+98.8).

Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol was no different a story and all three Indians in the fray failed to qualify for the finals.

Vijay Kumar shot a total of 575 points in two stages and finished 19th. Ramakrishna Yadav accumulated 573 points (281, 292) to grab 23rd spot while Melbourne hero Premba Tamang could manage only 567 points (279, 288) to finish a dismal 32nd.

German Ralf Schumann won the gold in the event with a total of 785.1 points (587+198.1).

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