Shooter Gurpreet takes fifth spot at World Cup

Indian shooter Gurpreet Singh finished fifth in the men's 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol event at the shooting World Cup here on Wednesday.

Gurpreet, who has already secured a 2016 Rio Olympics quota for India, was in excellent form in the initial rounds, qualifying for the final in first place with a combined score of 586 over two stages of qualification.

But his form appeared to desert him in the six-man final as the Indian Army shooter appeared subdued, not once managing to shoot a perfect series of five shots.

Hu Haozhe of China won the gold while compatriot Lao Jiajie took home the silver medal. Boris Artaud of France got the bronze medal.

The other Indians in the event, former Olympic Silver medalist Vijay Kumar and Pemba Tamang, ended with scores of 573 and 563 to be placed 27th and 41st respectively.

Meanwhile, Olympic bronze medalist Gagan Narang and team mates Chain Singh and Surendra Sinh Rathod could not make it to the final of the men's 50m Rifle Prone event. Narang, who has also secured a quota for Rio, shot 623.6 to end 23rd, while Chain Singh finished in the 29th position with a score of 622.9. Surendra Sinh Rathod shot 617.9 to be placed 53rd.

In the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, Lajja Gauswami was placed 13th in qualifying with a score of 577 while Elizabeth Susan Koshy lay 16th with 576. Anjum Moudgil, India's third entrant in the event ended her qualification round with a score of 572. She ended her day in the 27th place.