Home Sports India bags four golds on second day of C’wealth shooting

India bags four golds on second day of C’wealth shooting

By IANS,

New Delhi: India swept all the four gold medals on offer on the second day of the Commonwealth Shooting Championships at the Karni Singh Shooting Range here Saturday.

The first gold of the day came from Gagan Narang, who won in the the men’s 10 metre air rifle singles event, while navy man Sanjeev Rajput bagged the silver.

Narang shot a total of 699.5 (595 qualification, 104.5 finals) for the yellow metal and also came close to breaking his own championship record of 699.7 set in Australia in 2005.

Rajput got the silver shooting a total of 694.8 (591 qualification, 103.8 finals) and the bronze went to Englishman Huckle James with an aggregate of 694 (593 qualification, 101 final).

Another Indian, P.T. Raghunath, who bagged the gold in the pairs event with Narang, narrowly missed out on a medal as he finished fourth with a total of 693.2 (592 qualification, 101.2 final).

India coach Sunny Thomas was happy with Narang’s performance but was disappointed with Raghunath.

“Raghunath could have done better. He came close to win the bronze. He did poorly in the first two shots in the finals and then picked up well to score 101.2. Rajput also performed well in the final. He was fourth after the qualification but then bounced back to finish second,” said Thomas.

Narang was elated after winning his second gold in the championship.

“I got 104.5 in the final, but I could have done better. But gold is a gold after all. It is also good to see India finishing 1-2 in a single event,” he said.

“I have enjoyed my shooting here for the last two days as the facilities here are excellent and at par with the best ranges in the world,” he added.

In the double trap event, India’s Vikram Bhatnagar and Mohammed Ashaf won the gold with 187 points while the silver went to the strong Australian pair of Russel Mark and Nicholas Kirley, who aggregated 183. England’s team of Steven Scott and James Sole won the bronze with 177 points.

In women’s 25 metre pistol event, India dominated the competition as Anisa Sayyed won her second gold by scoring 578 points and Annuraj Singh won the silver medal by scoring 576 points. Australia’s Linda Ryan stood third with a score of 576 points.

The last gold of the day came from Amanpreet Singh, who shot the gold in the men’s 50 metre pistol event with 657 points. Michael Gault of England won the Silver with 645 points and India’s Viraj Singh won the bronze with 625 points.

India are now on top of the medals tally with six gold, three silver and two bronze, way ahead of England, which has so far won one gold, two silver and two bronze.