China's Zhu slips to second in qualification

By Lee Chyen Yee

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Zhu Qinan suffered a late lapse in concentration to drop to second place in qualification for the men's 10m air rifle event behind Henri Hakkinen of Finland on Monday.

Zhu, who won the Olympic gold medal in Athens and is the heavy favourite to claim China's third gold in shooting, was leading after the first 40 shots with a perfect 400 but scored a 99 in series five and slipped further with a 98 in his last.

That allowed Hakkinen, who had a 99 in his third and sixth series, to overtake him before the finals.

Zhu had to rush his final shots as the clock was ticking down.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)