Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Indian men and women shooters Tuesday hit the bull’s eye to give the country two gold medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. The men also won a silver in the shooting event.

The Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang pair bagged the first gold by shooting a total 1,193 points, breaking their own record of 1,189 points scored at Melbourne Games four years ago in the 10m air rifle pairs event.

The women pair of Anisa Sayyed and Rahi Sarnobat won the top honours in the 25 metres pistol event to give the country its second gold, on the second day of the competitions. A total of 18 gold medals are to be decided during the day in swimming (5), shooting (4), cycling (3), wrestling (3), weightlifting (2) and artistic gymnastics (1).

The men’s pair of Omkar Singh and Deepak Sharma took home silver in the 50 metres pistol pair event.

With these three medals, India’s tally goes up to 7 - two golds, three silvers and two bronzes.

Sonia Chanu and Suken Dey had bagged silver and Sandhya Rani and V. Srinivas Rao bronze in weightlifting event on Monday, the first day of the competitions.

Abhinav shot a spectacular series of 100, 98, 99, 100, 99 and 99 for a tally of 595 points at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.

Gagan, who has not been performing well in the 10 metres air rifle event, shot an outstanding sequence of 99, 100, 100, 99, 100 and 100 for a total of 598 points.

An elated Bindra said it was his best moment since winning the yellow metal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Yes of course. This is my best moment since winning the gold in Beijing. It is always special to win a medal for the country. And this is the first time I am competing in a such a big event on the Indian soil,” Bindra said soon after the pair’s sterling performance.

“I am happy the way we performed and hope to continue our showing in the coming days of the Games,” said Bindra, the first Indian individual Olympic gold medallist. He had finished at the top podium in the 10 m air rifle event at Beijing Olympics.

The silver winning pair of Singh and Sharma scored a total of 1087 points. Singh contributed 548 points and Sharma 539.

Indian shooters had emerged a dominant force at the Melbourne Games, winning 27 medals, including 16 golds, helping the country’s medal tally reach to 50.

National coach Sunny Thomas was excited at the feat and said that the gold rush for India has just begun.

“This is just the start and shooters will win a lot of medals this time too,” he said.

The silver in the men’s 10-metre rifle event was taken by England’s James Huckle and Kenny Parr while Bangladesh’s Abdullah Hell Baki and Mohammad Asif Hussain got the bronze.

The English pair managed 1,174 points, closely followed by Bangladesh (1,173). (EOM).