HOSTS India won three golds and three silver as they continued their medal winning spree on the second day of the Commonwealth Games shooting competition today.
This takes their total medal tally from shooting in the last two days to five gold and five silver medals.
World record-holder Gagan Narang and Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra spiced up the marquee 10m air rifle singles event with their rivalry.
In the end Narang took the title with Bindra settling for the silver and the bronze going to James Huckle of England.
India’s second gold of the day came from pistol shooter Anisa Syyed in the women’s 25m pistol singles event.
Syyed scored a total of 786.8 in the finals of the event. Rahi Sarnobat, also of India, bagged the silver with a final score of 781.
The two had paired up to win gold in the 25m pistol pairs event held yesterday.
The bronze went to Bibiana Chin of Malaysia who scored 778.2 points.
Pistol shooter Omkar Singh won the third gold of the day for the hosts by lifting the men’s 50m pistol event. He shot a total of 653.6 in the final round.
Singapore won both the silver and bronze medals in the event with Bin Gai coming second with a total score of 649.6 and Swee Hon Lim scoring 644.7 in the final round of the event.
India’s second silver of the day came from the pair of Ronjan Sodhi and Asher Noria in the men’s double trap pairs event.
That was a setback for the Indians who were expected to win the gold medal.
They lost the gold by a margin of just one point to the English pair of Stevan Walton and Steven Scott who scored a total of 189 as against 188 scored by the Indian duo.
England thus set a new Games record beating the one set by Australia’s Russell Mark and Craig Trembath in the Melbourne Commonwealth games of 2006 where they had a total of 185.
Talking of the rivalry between his two star rifle shooters, rifle coach Stanislav Lapidus said: “I told Abhinav and Gagan before the competition – please don’t go to fight against each other. Fight against yourself.
“I am happy with the result but not satisfied. Though Gangan got a gold, Abhinav did not but you can only win one medal.”
While admitting that he struggled in the beginning of his competition, Narang, who could not hide his delight on winning the gold said: “I and Bindra go back a long way.
“I was still trying to get into my shooting shoes when Abhinav was already there. We share a good relationship, there is a lot to learn from each other. It feels nice to compete with him.”
Bindra though was more magnanimous in his praise of Narang.
Insisting that he was not disappointed on missing out on a gold, the 2004 World champion said: “Narang is on fire. I am delighted for him. He is an outsanding shooter – one of the best shooters in the world and he has been very consistent over the last few years.”
