So near yet so far; Tejaswini misses bronze by whisker

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) Tejeswani Sawant missed the bronze by a whisker and compatriot Avneet Kaur Sidhu finished sixth in the women's section while World number one Gagan Narang slumped to a lowly 16th position in the men's section of the 10 m Air Rifle event at the World Cup Shooting tournament in Resende, Brazil.

It was a heartbreak for the Commonwealth gold medallist Tejaswini who missed a podium finish by just 0.2 points. She shot a score of 499.7 to finish fourth behind Sylwia Bogacka of Poland who shot 499.9.

Katerina Karkova of Czech Republic claimed the gold with a score of 501.6 (399+102.6) while the silver went to fellow Pavla Kalna with 500.3 (397+103.3), according to the information received here today.

Tejaswini shot 396 (98,99,100,99) in the qualifying as against 397 by the Pole. The Indian's final's score of 103.7 was better than Sylwia's (102.9) but that proved insufficient in the end.

Fellow Avneet Sidhu also shot 396 (99,99,98,100), same as Tejaswini's, but in the finals scored 102.5 to tally 498.5 (396+102.5) and finished sixth.

Another Indian in the fray, Soudaminee Gavankar shot 389 (98,96,98,97) to finish 35th. In the Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) section, seasoned Anjali Bhagwat shot 397 (99,100,99,99), the highest qualification score among all the five Indians, while Suma Shirur shot 392 (95,97,100,100).

Meanwhile in men's 10m Air Rifle, World number one Gagan Narang, who was participating in the MQS as he has already qualified for 2008 Beijing Olympics shot a sub-standard 593 with a series of 98,98,100,100,97,100 to finish 16th.

This was four points less than what he shot at the World Cup in China last month where he won the gold with a score of 700.2 (597+103.2).

Gagan, who won four gold medals in Melbourne Commonwealth games last month, will also compete in the 50m three Position Rifle event.

The other Indian in the event, Sanjeev Rajput, failed to qualify for the finals with a below par score of 585 (98,98,96,99,97,97). He finished 36th.

The gold in this event was won by Austrian Christian Planer with an aggregate of 699.6 (599+100.6). The silver went to Are Hansen of Norway with a score of 697.5 (595+102.5) while the bronze was won by Serguei Kruglov of Russia with a score of 697.4 (595+102.4).

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