Abhinav Bindra wins in Asian Shooting

Doha, Jan 13 (IBNS) Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra clinched his maiden Asian Shooting Championship gold medal beating his fierce rival Chinese Zhu Qinan, reigning Asian Games champion, by 0.3 points in the 10 metre air rifle event in Doha, Qatar, Friday.

The medal was also Bindra´s first in any Asian level meet despite having won the World Championship in 2006. The 29-year-old Bindra recently won the silver in the Asian Air Gun championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Bindra shot 597 out of 600 in the qualifying after shooting a series of 100, 99, 100, 98, 100, 100.

Going into the final round, Bindra was one point behind two Chinese, Zhu and Wang Tao who had 598 each.

In 10-shot final, Bindra finished with an excellent series of 10.7, 10.8, 10.6, 10.3, 9.9, 10.3, 10.2, 10.3, 10.5 and 10.5 for a total of 104.1 while Zhu, Athens Games gold medallist, finished with 102.8 points.

Gagan Narang, who holds the Olympic quota along with Bindra in the event, finished fourth with and a score of 595 in the qualifying and 103.2 in the final.

The Indian team, however, bagged the silver medal courtesy Satyendra Singh´s 582 to be placed 30th in a field of 51. China won the team gold with a world record 1793, 19 points ahead of India.