Vijay qualifies for London Olympics

Vijay Kumar became the seventh Indian shooter to qualify for next year's London Olympics by clinching a silver medal in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event of the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA.

The 25-year-old Indian missed the gold by a whisker to German Christian Reitz, an Olympic bronze medallist from the Beijing edition, who won the match with an overall score of 29 hits.

Reitz, who also qualified for the Olympics, outdid Vijay in a shoot-off for gold by four hits to one.

Vijay Kumar finished with an overall score of 29 hits + one hit in the shoot-off, after scoring series of five hits during the final.

The bronze medal went to China's Ding Feng, the winner of last year's World Cup final round here in Fort Benning.

Vijay joins rifle shooters Ronjan Sodhi, Gagan Narang, Hari Om Singh and Sanjeev Rajput, and fellow pistol shooters Rahi Sarnobat and Annu Raj Singh to clinch a quota place for the London Olympics.

More than 600 athletes coming from 70 countries are participating in the third ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup stage of the year.