Eleanor Bezzina places 22nd in women’s 10 metre air pistol qualification

Maltese target shooter Eleanor Bezzina has failed to advance to the final of the women's 10 metre air pistol after finishing in a respectable 22nd place in the round of qualification.

Bezzina managed to garner a total of 379 points, just 5 points off Spain's Sonia Franquet, the last athlete to qualify for this afternoon's final.

Bezzina finished below Mongolia's Gundegmaa Otryadyn and Iran's Golnoush Sebghatollahi, both of whom managed equal points.

The 39-year-old - the first of Malta's contingent to participate in this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro - was competing against 44 other atheletes in her bid to qualify for the final.

The qualification round was won by Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina who managed 390 points. Her Russian teammate, Ekaterina Korshunova, and Greece's Anna Korakaki, finished second and third respectively with 387 points each.

China's Guo Wenjun, who scooped first place in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics, finished down in 30th place with 378 points.

The final of the 10 metre air pistol shooting will commence today at 4pm with athletes from Russia, Greece, Mexico, Egypt, Serbia, China, and Spain competing for the gold medal.

Bezzina's exploits at the Rio Olympics will continue on Tuesday in the women's 25 metres pistol qualification round at 2pm. Tuesday will also see Malta's Andrew Chetcuti compete in the men's 100 metre freestyle heats. Bezzina will be participating in Heat 2, which will begin at around 6pm.