Bindra’s golden farewell
Glasgow, July 25: Abhinav Bindra made his swansong at the Commonwealth Games a memorable one, winning a battle of nerves to bag the 10m air rifle gold medal, which had eluded him in four previous attempts.
Bindra, who has already won nine medals including three gold in the pairs events, was calmness personified as he did not put a foot wrong in the final round, having finishing third in the qualifications at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre, Dundee.
Earlier, unheralded teenager Malaika Goel bagged a silver as shooters added two medals to India’s kitty. The 16- yearold Malaika got her silver in the women’s 10m air pistol event, while favourite Heena Sidhu fell by the wayside.
Goel shot an aggregate of 197.1 in the finals to finish second and grab her first senior international medal after a close fight with Singapore’s Teo Shun Xie, who took the gold.
Bindra, the first Indian Olympic individual gold medallist, shot an aggregate of 205.3 to set a new final Games record. This is the first CWG, which applied the ISSF rule of taking the final round score only and not adding the qualification score in shooting.
“This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWGs and nine medals, it is enough for me,” Bindra said.
“It was a well- earned medal because I worked hard and I am happy to have achieved the feat. I got the desired result.”
Asked if Rio 2016 would be his last Olympics, he said, “I will take one thing at a time. I will decide later.”
Bindra said he would now focus to the World Championships to be held in a few months time.
“I will relax a bit and then prepare for the World Cup,” said the 31year- old Bindra who won India’s first individual Olympic medal by winning the 10m air rifle event in the 2008 Beijing Games.
Abdullah Baki of Bangladesh finished second with 202.1 in a shootoff while Daniel Rivers of England bagged the bronze, also after a shoot- off with another Indian, Ravi Kumar, for an aggregate score of 162.4.
Bindra felt sorry for Ravi, who missed out on a bronze in a shoot- off after leading the competition halfway.
“Ravi is a talented shooter. His future is bright and he will do well for the country. I have not spoken to him after the event but definitely I will do so and encourage him,” said Bindra, who trailed the second series of the elimination stage behind Ravi.
Ravi dropped his head in disappointment after conceding the lead to Bindra as he could only manage 9.4 to Rivers’ 9.6 in the single shot shoot- off for the bronze.
Egged on by the strong Indian team contingent, Bindra had just four below- 10 scores out of 20 final round shots.
He jumped to the top spot after the third series of the elimination round and then opened up a gap of 2.5 points at he end of the penultimate round before running away with the title in style by beating Baki by 3.2 points in the end.