TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Iranian woman shooter Najmeh Khedmati snatched a gold medal in women's 10m air rifle at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition on Friday.

She battled for the whole match with her two Indian opponents, Ayonika Paul and Pooja Ghatkar, claiming the lead only after her 18th shot, when Ghatkar hit a disappointing 8.8 and slipped from the 1st to the 3rd place, sealing her performance with 184.5 final points and with the Bronze medal.

In the last series, then, Ayonika Paul closed the gap with Khedmati, tying their scores at 205.9 and forcing a tie-breaking shoot-off for the 1st place.

There, the Indian shooter only marked a 9.9, while Khedmati hit a 10.1, finally claiming the Gold medal. The first one for the Islamic Republic of Iran in this competition.

As Khedmati earned an Olympic quota during last year�s ISSF World Cup, the first slot available went to Paul, but as India already collected one with Apurvi Chandela, also during last year�s World Cup, the second one went to Republic of Korea�s Lee Eunseo, 4th with 163.1 points, issf wrote.

By Tasnim News Agency