Fresh from their golden feats at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Indian shooters started their campaign at the ISSF World Cup at Gauangzhou, China, in much the same way with Gagan Narang claiming the gold medal in the 10m air rifle event.
It was double delight for Narang as he also became the first Indian shooter to earn a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Narang aggregated 700.2 points to bag first place.
The 22-year-old, who bagged four gold medals in Melbourne, scored 103.2 points in the final after three shooters were tied at 597 in the previous round.
"Before I came to the World Cup, I was not very sure that I could win," said Narang, wearing a garland in his neck. "So I am very happy now, you know, it is my first win in a World Cup event."
Tianyou Liu of China won the silver with a total score of 699.6 while Artem Khadijibekov of Russia took the bronze totalling 699.1 points.
Abhinav Bindra, however, finished ninth with a score of 595 points.
With a fabulous last shot of 10.8 points, the Asian champion in 2005 secured his second international victory this year with an advantage of 0.6 points together with an Olympic quota place for India.
"I am extremely happy to win the first Olympic berth for my country," said Narang.
"But I am not sure if I can have a chance to compete at the 2008 Olympics.
"Anyway, I am in pretty good form now. My next aim is the World Championships and the Asian Games," he added.
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