Bindra takes a

ON TARGET

GLASGOW: A rifle marksman who the world knows as Abhinav Bindra and an up-and-coming 16-year-old pistol shooter stamped India’s authority at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre, clinching gold and silver, respectively on an eventful third day at the Commonwealth Games on Friday.

The poster boy of Indian sports from the day he picked up the air rifle, Bindra rounded off his CWG journey with a bagful of medals, the most coveted of them coming on Friday afternoon when he won his maiden 10m rifle individual gold, a medal which had been eluding him since he first competed in the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 as a 15-year-old.

Bindra had won the pairs gold in Manchester (2002), Melbourne (2006) and in front of the home ABHINAV BINDRA, after clinching gold in Glasgow

crowd in New Delhi four years ago, but the individual gold eluded him. The 31-year-old fought hard, first inching closer to compatriot Ravi Kumar, who was leading, and emerging an easy winner with a score of 205.3 in the finals, after a qualifying round score of 622.2 points. Kumar was unlucky to miss out on a bronze in shoot-off.

Kumar was in the lead after 12 shots, but Bindra took over on the 13th and then raced away to seal the gold in style. The gold was the second medal for India from the shooting range after 16-year-old Malaika Goel had won silver in

the women’s 10m air pistol event.

This was Bindra’s fourth CWG gold, the previous three coming in the pairs event, which is not a part of the curriculum at Glasgow. He also has two individual silver medals (2002 and 2010) and a bronze (2006). The silver in the event went to Bangladesh’s Abdullah Baki, while England’s Daniel Rivers got the bronze.

Bindra was calmness personified after achieving the feat. Speaking to the media after the customary handshakes, he said, “This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWG and seven