Abhinav Bindra seals quota place; qualifies for 2016 Rio Olympics

Abhinav Bindra finished sixth in the finals of the 10m Air Rifle event

2008 Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra has secured the Olympic quota spot in the men’s Rifle event for the 2016 Rio Olympics after finishing 6th in the finals of the 10m Air Rifle event at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup, that is currently being played in Munich, on Thursday.

Out of the 8 finalists, 4 from China, Russia, Belarus had either ensured Olympic quota berths or were ineligible to claim a quota place spot as the concerned countries had already sealed the maximum possible two quota places in the event.

In order to book a place, the Dehradun-born shooter had to defeat one of the other three to seal one of the three quota spots for the Rio Olympics and courtesy of his 6trh place finish, he became the 4th shooter after Jitu Rai, Apurva Chandela and Gagan Narang to seal a quota place for the Olympics next year.

Bindra finished with a total of 627.5 and fired a score of 122.4 in the finals and even found himself in pole position at one point, but scores 9.2 and 9.3 dented his chances and he eventually fell back in the order.

Zhu Qinan of China, who had won the silver at the 2008 Olympics, clinched the Gold with a score of 627.9 and a final score of 206, while Vladimir Malenikopv of Russia finished second with an overall score of 628.7 and a final score of 205.7. while Oleh Tsarikov of Ukraine finished third and along with Bindra and Stevan Pletikosic of Serbia, sealed the remaining two Olympic quota places.

Among other Indians, Gagan Narang finished in 57th place while Sanjeev Rajput finished 91st.

Bindra took to his Twitter page to express happiness over his qualification.

What a day in Munich ! A quota for Rio , some nice shooting. , a lot of pain , wonder what the future holds ....

— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 28, 2015

Congratulations to @Abhinav_Bindra for winning the Rio 2016 Olympic quota place.

— Olympic Gold Quest (@OGQ_India) May 28, 2015