Reigning Asian Games champion Palak Gulia and teenage shooter Sainyam kept the Indian shooting squad on course for a 20th Paris Olympic quota place at the ISSF Olympic Qualification Championship Rifle/Pistol.

The duo reached the final of the women’s 10m air pistol in Rio de Janiero on Saturday.

Both Gulia in the first qualification relay and Sainyam in the second, shot identical scores of 578 to take the sixth and seventh qualification spots.

India’s third entrant Surbhi Rao missed making the top eight, also shooting 578 but missing out on lesser hits in the inner 10 ring, to finish ninth. Azerbaijan’s Nigar Nasirova took the eighth and final qualifying spot.

Mariami Profiashvili topped the field with a 582 while Hungarian ace Veronika Major also made the cut with France, Armenia and Thailand also in the mix.