Ace shooter Gagan Narang kicked off his Olympic year on a bright note by overcoming a stiff challenge from 670-strong field to claim the silver medal in men's 10 metre air rifle event on Friday at Munich Open Shooting Championship in Germany [Images].

Gagan shot a total of 700.4 (597+103.4) which was just 0.2 below the mark of top finisher Sokolov Denis of Russia [Images], who carded 700.6 (597+103.6) to win the gold medal.

The Indian fired a superb series of 100, 100, 98, 100, 99, 100 to finish ahead of many illustrious opponents, including world record holder Farnik Thomas from Austria and other World Cup medalists, from 49 countries.

The high standard of competition could be known by the fact that four finalist totalled identical score of 597 while the other four were just a point adrift at 596 in the qualification round.

Gagan's brilliant performance can also be measured by the fact that he shot 50 inner tens in his way to register 597 in the qualifications.

In the finals, except Gagan's fifth shot which was a 9.9 rest of the shots were all 10 plus.

"It was a good match for me except for the third series where I only shot a 98 which made it quite challenging for me to recover from that point, however I shot well and dropped just one point in the last three series," Gagan said.

"I am happy with a good beginning in this hectic Olympic year," he said.

Serbian shooter Morosavljev Nemanja shot 700.3 (597+103.3) to win the bronze.