Bindra misses gold by a whisker

Indian shooting sensation Abhinav Bindra missed gold by a slender margin, but won his third successive silver medal in the RIAC 2002, the first leg of the month-long European Circuit Shooting Championship which concluded in Luxembourg on Sunday.

Performing consistently, Bindra fired a series of 100, 100, 98, 99, 99 and 99 on Sunday while Von Kanne Phillipe of Switzerland fired a series of 98, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98, making it an aggregate of 595 for both shooters.

Bindra entered the final at the top shooter in the final list of eight as his last score was the highest and more than that of the Swiss.

The closely-contested battle to determine the winner was carried into the final, where Bindra shot 101.8 as against 102.2 by the Swiss, who went on to snatch the gold.

"It was good shooting and I had a decent world-class score," said Bindra after the contest.

The bronze went to Harmsen Mischa of the Netherlands (590+102.9).

Current world champion Dick Boshman of Holland, who had won gold on Saturday with an aggregate of 698.8 (596+102.8) could not make it even among the first three.

The 19-year-old Bindra had won 12 medals including six gold in last year's European Circuit and was declared overall champion

. Bindra will now be training in Germany with his coach Uwe Riesterer till the next leg, which starts in Munich (Germany) on January 23.