INDIA WINS FIRST GOLD MEDAL IN OLYMPICS 2008

Abhinav Bindra wins 10m air rifle gold at Beijing Olympics

Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in men's 10 metre air rifle event of the shooting competition at Beijing Olympics on Monday morning.

The gold medal is India's first since 1980, when the hockey team emerged triumphant in Moscow.

Qinan Zhu of China scored 699.7 for second place while Finn Henri Hakkinen faltered on a final shot and finished third with a total of 699.4.

Earlier, Bindra ended the poor run of Indian shooters at the Olympics by qualifying for the men's 10 metres air rifle event final.

However, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event as he finished ninth with a score of 595/600. Narang shot a series of 97, 100, 100, 100, 98, 100.

Bindra, a Khel Ratna winner, finished the qualifying event joint-fourth with Romania's George Alin Moldoveanu in the qualification round. The duo had a score of 596/600.

The bespectacled India shooter's scoring sequence was 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99.

Meanwhile, Finland's Henri Hakkinen qualified first for the event with a score of 598/600 after shooting a series of 100, 100, 99, 100, 100 and 99.

China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98.