New Delhi, April 13 (IANS): Reigning Asian Games champion Palak Gulia and the second teenager in the squad Sainyam, kept the Indian shooting squad on course for a 20th Paris Olympic quota place, reaching the final of the women’s 10m air pistol in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Final Olympic Qualification Championship Rifle/Pistol at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

The final will be held on Sunday.

Both Palak, in the first qualification relay, and Sainyam, in the second, shot identical scores of 578 to take the sixth and seventh qualification spots, giving India a boost in their endeavour to grab one of the two available quota places.

India’s third entrant Surbhi Rao agonizingly missed making the top eight, also shooting 578 but missing out on lesser hits in the inner 10 ring, to finish ninth. Azerbaijan’s Nigar Nasirova took the eighth and final qualifying spot.

Mariami Profiashvili topped the field with a 582 while Hungarian ace Veronika Major also made the cut with France, Armenia and Thailand also in the mix.