Bindra shoots gold in Grand Prix of France

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Shooting ace Abhinav Bindra todaybagged gold medal in 10 metre air rifle event in the firstGrand Prix of France Air Rifle Competition in Fleury LesAubrais, some 128kms from Paris.

Bindra shot 596 in the qualification and 102.9 in thefinal to aggregate 698.9 and finished ahead of local hopesValerian Sauveplane (698.3) and Etienne Germond (695.7).

The Beijing Olympic gold medallist had a sequence of 9.910.5 10.4 10.6 10.6 10.2 10.6 10.4 9.9 9.8 in the final.

Bindra, who was on Thursday issued an ultimatum by theNational Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to participate inthe ongoing National Games in Ranchi, is assured of a place inthe Indian squad for the first two World Cups, according tonational coach Sunny Thomas.

The shooter was training in Munich prior to thecompetition in France and is expected to compete in the trialsscheduled from March 1-10 in New Delhi during a camp for theshooters in the national squad.

Bindra created history by becoming the first Indian towin an individual gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.