Belarus's Sergei Martynov equalized the world record of 600 points at the qualification round and claimed the men's 50 meters rifle prone title at the shooting World Cup here on Wednesday.

"I always aim at 600 points, although it doesn't always come out." said Martynov, the double World Cup gold medalist.

The 37-year-old Martynov collected his fifth world record qualification score ever since the World Cup in Munich 1997 and held on his top position with a total score of 704.8 points, just two tenth of a point less than the final world record.

Russia's Artem Khadjibekov, the bronze medalist in the men's 10m air rifle here on Monday, took the silver medal with 701.7 points, followed by Israel's Guy Starik with 700.8 points.

The Olympic slot for 2008 went to Russia as Martynov has already won a place in the World Cup in Munich last year.

China's Ren Jie grabbed the gold medal of the women's 10m air pistol with a total score of 487.7 points as well as a quota place for her nation for the Beijing Olympics 2008. This is her first win since she was crowned in the World Cup in Sydney 2002.

Russian veteran Svetlana Smirnova, five time World Cup winner of the event took the silver with 486.9 points. Jasna Sekaric from Serbia and Montenegro, the gold winner in the 1988 Olympics, was third on 484.6 points.

The 26-year-old Ren led the qualification of the women's 10m air pistol with a score of 390, three points ahead of Smirnova.

However, the final turned out to be breathtaking after Ren scored 8.5 points for her third shot.

"I was nervous throughout the final," said Ren, who finished fourth in the event at the Athens Olympics 2004.

She finally secured her gold medal with a 10.7-point for the ninth shot and a 9.9-point for the tenth.

"I am very happy to be the champion again after several years of down."

Editor: Donald