Veteran Tan out of men's 10m air pistol final

(BEIJING, April 13) -- The men's 10m air pistol qualification round of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 ISSF World Cup concluded at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall this afternoon.

Placing first to third in the rankings were Norayr Bakhtamyan of Armenia with a score of 586 points, and Vladimir Gontcharov of Russia and Frank Dumoulin of France with an identical score of 585.

China's Shi Xinglong, with 584 points, qualified for the finals as a fifth-place finisher, while his teammates Tan Zongliang and Pang Wei were eliminated with 583 and 582, respectively.

Tan Zongliang had a good start, making nine 10-point shots and one 9-point shot, finishing the first string with 99 points. However, he gradually lost his form by scoring 97 and 96 for the following two strings. Although China's chief coach Wang Yifu gave him tips four times during the competition, the veteran ended up placing 11th with a result of 583.

Tan's younger teammate Pang Wei, who came in 15th with 582, also dropped out of the finals.

Daemyung Lee of the Republic of Korea, with 584, placed fourth; Jongsu Kim of the DPRK, Walter Lapeyre of France, and Alexander Danilov of Israel finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.

The world record for the men's 10m air pistol qualification round is 593 points.

(Credit: The Official Website of "Good Luck Beijing" Sport Events)