Indian shooters excel at Commonwealth meet
London Olympics bronze medalist Gagan Narang claimed the silver medal in the mens
metre Rifle Prone event at the ongoing Commonwealth Shooting Championships here on Thursday.
Youngster Swapnil Kusale took bronze in the same event for India. Also among the medals for India was the experienced Annu Raj Singh, who secured the women›s 25m Pistol bronze.
On the third day of the competition, India›s medal hunt started with men›s Rifle Prone, when both Gagan and and Swapnil qualified for the eight-man final.
Gagan has a score of 617.6 after 60 shots in the qualifying round while Swapnil outshot his more decorated teammate with a score of 619.1, to finish third to Gagan›s fourth.
Eventual Gold medallist Dane Sampson of Australia topped the qualifying round with a Commonwealth record of 624.3.
Sushil Ghalay, India›s third con- testant, shot 614.1 to finish 10th among the 22 participants.
In the final, Swapnil again enjoyed the stronger start, briefly leading after the 10th shot. While Dane steered clear of the field after the 18th shot of the 24-shot final, Gagan and Swapnil continued to duel for the second and third places.
Gagan finally clinched it after the 22nd shot. Dane registered a winning score of 247.7, Gagan ended with 246.3 while Swapnil shot 225.6.
In the women›s 25m Pistol, Heena Sidhu was among three Indians who qualified for the final.
Annu Raj Singh however was the best placed Indian in qualifying with a score of 578 giving her the second spot in qualifying. Teammate Rahi Sarnobat had the same score but finished third in qualifying on countback. Heena qualified in fifth place with 571.
In the final, Annu Raj Singh called on all her experience to start the strongest in the field with a pair of perfect scores in the first two five-shot series.
However the Australian pair of Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Elena Galiabovitch were strong throughout to finish 1- 2 with scores of 35 and 32 after the 10th and final series. Annu Raj secured the third spot with 28, bowing out of the final after the ninth series.
Heena Sidhu finished fifth with a tally of 21 while Rahi eventually finished sixth, shooting 17 in the final.