Shooting Day 3 Review: Indian and Finnish surprises rule the day

India's Abhinav Bindra surprised all by winning the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle. Bindra shot a total of 700.5 to defeat favorite Zhu Qinan of China and Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Bindra's gold medal is the first time that an Indian athlete has won an individual Olympic gold medal. India's previous eight gold medals were all won in Hockey.

Athens 2004 gold medalist Zhu will be disappointed at not winning his second Olympic gold medal, but he has a lot more Olympic competition ahead of him -- Zhu is only 23 years old.

At 25, Bindra is not much older than Zhu, so today's event could be the start of a promising rivalry between the shooters from the world's most populous countries.

Bindra, who secured the gold medal with a 10.8 on his last shot, managed to block out the pressure of being India's first individual gold medalist.

"I was trying to concentrate on shooting. I wasn't thinking about making history. I mean I was two points behind at one stage. I was just trying to concentrate. I just wanted to shoot well, I just wanted to shoot aggressively, and that's what I did," said Bindra.

Zhu on the other hand, shot well below his best and was probably affected by the huge expectations placed on him to win gold.

"My desire for getting another gold medal for my motherland was so strong that I was under so much stress before the Games," said Zhu.

Finland's Satu Makela-Nummela won the gold medal in the Women's Trap, making her only the third Finnish woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

To win gold, Makela-Nummela was forced to defeat Slovakia's Zuzana Stefecekova, who is a world recorder in the event.

Makela-Nummela shot a final score of 91, two more than Stefecekova. The United States' Corey Cogdell won the bronze medal after winning a shoot-off.

The gold medal was an open race after the two favorites, San Marino's Daniela Del Din and China's Liu Yingzi failed to make the final.