Anjali 7th, Gagan 19th in Milan World Cup

New Delhi, Jun 1 (UNI) Anjali Bhagwat could not live upto the expectations and finished seventh in the women's 10m Air Rifle while in the men's section, Gagan Narang was nowhere near his best and stood a poor 19th in the ISSF World Cup in Milan.

Anjali, who has already secured an Olympic quota place for Beijing, aggregated 498.3 (396+102.3) with a series of 97,100,100 and 99 in the qualifications.

Tejaswini Sawant finished 10th with a score of 396 (99,100,98,99) while Avneet Sidhu finished 28th with a score of 394 (99,99,98,98).

The Gold in this event went to Athens Olympic Gold medallist Du Li of China with a score of 501.8 (399+102.8), while the Silver was won by Lioubov Galkina of Russia with 501.7 (399+102.7).

Chinese shooter Yinghui Zhao won the Bronze with 501.6 (399+102.6).

The Olympic Quota place was won by Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia who finished sixth.

In the Minimum Qualification Score section, Suma Shirur shot 394 99,99,99,97) while Deepali Deshpande shot a score of 390 (98,98,96,98).

Gagan, also assured of a Beijing berth like Anjali, was far from impressive in the men's 10m Air Rifle event and shot a score of 593 with a poor series of 99,98,99,98,99 and 100.

''During the match I was struggling to stabilise my position with the rifle but something went wrong with the setup of the rifle may be because of the air travel and it was difficult to adust it at the last moment'' rued Gagan.

Abhinav Bindra finished 42nd with a score of 589 (99,98,98,98,96,100) while Imran Hasan Khan finished 64th with a score of 586 (96,98,99,99,97,97), according to information received here today.

The Gold in this event was won by Athens Olympic Gold medallist Qinan Zhu of China with a score of 700.3 (598+102.3), Silver and the Olympic Quota place was won by Frank Koestel of Germany with a score of 699.1 (597+102.1) while Thomas Farnik of Austria won the Bronze with a score of 698.5 (598+100.5).

UNI AY PM VV1553