China's Li wins women's 10m air pistol at Bhopal World Cup

NEW DELHI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shooter Li Xue beat European champion Doreen Vennekamp of Germany to win the women's 10m air pistol gold at the ISSF World Cup in Bhopal, India on Wednesday.

Li, who finished fourth at last year's world championships, led the qualification with 581 points and the ranking match with a result of 254.6 points, 0.4 ahead of Vennekamp.

In the gold medal match, the two shared the first two points, but Li surged ahead thereafter to establish a convincing 9-1 lead with a perfect shot and clinched the eventual victory 17-5.

China's reigning world champion Lu Kaiman narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the ranking match, 0.2 points behind teammate Qian Wei.

Also on Wednesday, Sarabjot Singh won the first gold of the tournament for the hosts from the men's 10m air pistol event after a lop-sided 16-0 victory over Ruslan Lunev of Azerbaijan in the gold medal match. Varun Tomar added a bronze for India.

The World Cup will continue on Thursday with 10m air rifle and air pistol mixed team events to be staged.