Olympics-Shooting-Emmons stalks Ukraine for gold in 50m rifle

By Erik Kirschbaum

BEIJING, Aug 15 (Reuters) - American Matt Emmons was second to Ukraine sharpshooter Artur Ayvazian in the qualification of the men's Olympic 50m rifle prone on Friday.

The defending Olympic champion in this event from New Jersey, famous for firing at the wrong target on his final shot of the 2004 Olympics in the three positions' competition, had a perfect 100 in four of the six qualifying series for a 597.

Ayvazian had the hot hand in the qualifying, missing the thumbnail-sized bullseye for a 9 only once in his last 10 shots. He had a perfect 100 in his first five series for a 599 total.

Emmons is married to Katerina Emmons, who won the first gold of the Beijing Games, the women's 10m air rifle, for the Czech Republic. (Editing by Alison Williams)