Keith Sanderson leads into pistol finals

BEIJING (Reuters) - American Keith Anderson had the hot hand in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol qualification on Saturday and will take a two-point lead over Leonid Ekimov of Russia into the final.

The 33-year-old American, who has never won a major shooting competition, shot 583 in the two qualifying rounds, while Ekimov, 20, got 581.

Germany's Ralf Schumann, who has won the Olympic gold medal in this event in three of the last four Olympics, was back in fourth place -- four behind Sanderson.

Schumann, 46, won gold in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Athens in 2004 as well as silver in Seoul in 1988. He finished fifth in Sydney in 2000.

Sanderson's best results were a bronze medal at a 2007 World Cup event in Munich and fifth at the 2006 world championships in Zagreb.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)