Kolkata: The Indian troika of Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai gave the country the third place in the London Olympics qualification round at Ogden, in the US.

According to information received here, Talukdar logged 653, Rai 644 and Banerjee 642 on a windy and cold morning when the mercury dipped to 14 degrees Celsius during the World Cup Stage III meet Tuesday.

Talukdar, Rai and Banerjee finished 14th, 34th and 35th, respectively, in the individual ranking for the World Cup.

Their combined score of 1939 gave India an overall seventh position in the World Cup and third in the Olympic qualifier. Chinese Taipei (1942) and Russia (1940) took the first two positions in the race for three Olympic berths.

India will take on Norway in the first round, with the winner meeting the victor of the Netherlands-Canada contest. One among Australia, Turkey, Romania and Russia will be India's semifinals rival. (IANS)