By Abhishek Roy, IANS,
New Delhi : Shooters were bang on target to claim India’s first two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games besides collecting a silver at the Karni Singh Range here Tuesday.
Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and world number 3 Gagan Narang started the medal rush when the shooting competitions fired off. India’s first gold came from the men’s 10 metres air rifle pairs event.
Bindra (595), India’s only individual Olympic champion, and double world record holder Narang (598) shot a combined total of 1,193, breaking their own Commonwealth Games record (1,189) set four years ago in Melbourne.
Soon after, Anisa Sayeed and Rahi Sarnobat brought the second gold from the ranges, winning the women’s 25 m pistol pairs and setting a new Games record.
Rahi (584) and Anisa (572) shot a total of 1,156 to break the Games record (1,150) set by Australians Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Linda Ryan at the Manchester Games in 2002.
Lalita (581) and Linda (565) finished second with a total score of 1,146. England’s Julia Lydall (566) and Gorgs Geikie (556) settled for the bronze accumulating 1,122.
Between the two gold medals came the silver in the men’s 50 meters pistol when Omkar Singh (548) and Deepak Sharma (539) shot a total of 1,087 to finish second.
The gold went to Singapore’s Hon Swee Lim (550) and Bin Gai (544) who totalled 1,094 and Trinidad and Tobago’s pair Roger Peter Daniel (548) and Rhodney Richard Allen (533) got the bronze with a score of 1,081.
In men’s 10 m air rifle pairs, there was a close contest for the second place and England won the silver by just one point. England’s James Huckle (589) and Kenny Parr (585) shot a total of 1,174. Bangladesh’s Abdullah Hell Baki (583) and Mohammad Asif Hussain (590) got the bronze with 1,173.
Gagan shot an outstanding sequence of 99, 100, 100, 99, 100 and 100 for a total of 598, which was two points less than the perfect score of 600 that he shot in the World Cup final in 2008.
The Hyderabad man had a perfect score in his second, third, fifth and sixth series and faltered in his first and fourth sequence.
Abhinav shot a spectacular series of 100, 98, 99, 100, 99 and 99 for a tally of 595. He had just two perfect series in the first and fourth, but made up with his tactical brilliance.
Abhinav was the first to end his events and maintained a poker face. Minutes later when Gagan finished his events he punched in the air and waved at the crowd as India sealed the gold.
The silence at the 10 metre range was finally broken.
The officials had to silence the crowd as other shooters were yet to finish the contest. But by then India had opened up a huge lead ahead of England and Bangladesh, who battled for the second spot.
An elated Bindra said it was his best moment since winning the yellow metal in the Beijing Olympics.
“This is my best moment since Beijing. It is always special to win a medal for the country. And this is the first time I am competing in a such a big event on Indian soil,” Bindra said soon after the pair’s sterling show.
He had finished atop the podium in the 10 m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics.