Bindra draws blank at WC, qualifies for Olympics

Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra on Saturday qualified for next year's London Games despite finishing a lowly eighth in the 10m air rifle event of the Shooting World Cup in Munich, Germany.

Bindra, India's first individual Olympic gold medallist, shot a qualification score of 596, which left him tied with eight others but he managed to sneak into the finals by managing a score of 52.6 in the shoot-off.

The Indian eventually finished eighth with a total of 646.2 (596+50.2) but clinched a London Olympics quota place as the top six finishers in Saturday's event had already booked their berths in previous qualifying events.

"Since at least six shooters above him had already qualified, the quota place went to Abhinav as per rules," National Rifles Association secretary Rajiv Bhatia said.

The gold in the event went to China's Qinan Zhu (651) while the silver was clinched by his compatriot Tao Wang (649.5). Slovakia's Jozef Gonci (649.3) settled for the bronze medal.

890 shooters from 86 countries are competing in the 2011 Rifle and Pistol World Cup Stage at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range in Munich.

This is one of the final chances to qualify for the 2012 London Games, before the continental championships.

Photograph: Getty Images