SHOOTER SHREYASI CLAIMS GOLD TO SWELL INDIA’S CWG MEDALS TALLY
On another productive day for India at the shooting range, Ankur Mittal, Om Prakash bag a bronze each
GOLDCOAST: Shreyasi Singh had a premonition when she reached the Belmont Shooting Complex that she would not return to the Games Village empty handed on Wednesday. Her confidence grew after the first practice shot, and by the time the double trap competition ended, she had conquered a tough field, including Australia’s Emma Cox, to emerge champion.
Ankur Mittal recovered from a difficult position to win bronze in double trap, while Om Prakash Mitharwal struggled with malfunction issues but still managed bronze in 50m free pistol. Seasoned pistol shooter Jitu Rai could not add to his 10m air pistol gold despite making the finals.
It was the last opportunity for Shreyasi and the other double trap shooters to corner glory at the Commonwealth Games as the shotgun event will not be a part of the 2022 Birmingham Games and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
While the multiple time national champion and her counterpart Ankur were successful, Varsha Varman in the women’s section and Mohd Ashab in men’s weren’t that lucky despite good performances, finishing fourth in their respective sections after giving the medal winners a tough fight.
Silver-medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Games, Shreyasi was tied for the top spot with Cox after the first round in which she hit 24 targets out of 30. But with the weather changing, alternating between sunny and cloudy, Shreyasi could manage only 22 in the next series and dropped to second.
Cox shot superbly and held a seven-shot lead going into the third series. However, with the weather playing traunt, the Australian hit a bad patch, managing only 18 and giving Shreyasi the chance to tie the scores at 96 at the end of the competition. In the shoot-off, Shreyasi ‘killed’ both the clay targets while Cox could manage only one, giving the Indian the gold medal.
“I was confident of my chances in the shoot off. The conditions were difficult, the light condition changing every few minutes . But I kept my focus,” said Shreyasi.
Ankur didn’t look too enthused with his bronze. Winner of a World Cup gold in 2017 and silver medallist at the World Championships in Moscow last year, he said, “The moment I fired my first shot, I knew something was not going right for me. But I tried my best.”
Mitharwal made the final with the best score in qualification (549), with Jitu placed sixth with 542. However, both the Indians got poor starts and were placed seventh and eighth respectively after the first series of five shots.
In the second, Mitharwal shot well to move up to fourth and, after a couple of elimination rounds, moved up to second position. But the youngster could not maintain his position and eventually finished third.