India’s Shreyasi Singh capitalised on her opponent’s lapses to win the women’s double trap gold medal in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday
gold coast — Shreyasi Singh held her nerve and capitalised on her opponent’s lapses to win the women’s double trap gold medal in the 21st Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. Shreyasi shot 96 in the finals and beat Australia’s Emma Cox two shots to one in the shootoff at Belmont Shooting Centre.
The other Indian contender in the field, Varsha Varman finished fourth with 86.
The bronze medal went to Scotland’s Linda Pearson who shot 87 to finish a point ahead of Varsha, who held the third place for a while. The 26-year-old Shreyasi, thus, improved on her silver medal-winning effort at the Glasgow Games four years ago.
“I’m feeling really well. In 2014, I won the silver and I was really upset that I couldn’t win the gold but now, also I was trailing, but when I got the opportunity to fight more and fight harder in the shoot off, I was really happy about that, and I gave it 100 per cent,” Shreyasi said. “Emma (COX, AUS) is of course a brilliant competitor to be winning the gold medal against, so lots of wishes to her. She shot really well, too. But I think god is on my side and I’m feeling really lucky.”
Cox missed 12 of her 30 shots in the fourth round after placing herself in the gold medal position.
Shreyasi was on the second position while Varsha was on the third position after three rounds.
On her comeback after trailing in two rounds, Shreyasi said, “My coaches really helped me, and my family is also here so they were a big support for me. I just had it in me that I want to win the gold medal.
“I don’t want to go back with another silver, I want to win the gold medal.” Recently, she won a silver medal in the double trap event at the 2017 Commonwealth Shooting Championships.
Shreyasi, whose grandfather and father served in the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) as its president, represented the country in two events at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games Delhi but failed to win a single medal.
The Delhi-born Shreyasi won the individual silver medal in double trap in Glasgow and followed that by winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Meanwhile, India’s star singles shuttlers and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the pre-quarterfinls.
Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu thrashed Fiji’s Andra Whiteside 21-6, 21-3, while 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal routed South African Elsie De Villiers 21-3, 21-1.
Three-time World championship medallist Sindhu will meet Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu in the next round, while Saina’s challenger will be Jessica Li of the Isle of Man.
Third women’s singles shuttler, Ruthvika Gadde, beat Ghana’s Grace Atipaka 21-15, 21-7. Ruthvika will meet Singapore’s Jia Min Yeo in the next round.
In the men’s singles Roundof-32, HS Prannoy beat Mauritius’ Jean Paul Christopher 2114, 21-6, while Kidambi Srikanth beat Mauritius’ Aatish Lubah 2113, 21-10.
The mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini beat England’s Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh 21-17, 2116.