Thaindian News

By Abhishek Roy
New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) It was a disappointing day for Indian shooters at the Commonwealth Games Monday as Tejaswini Sawant and Meena Kumari missed the gold by one point in the 50 metre rifle prone women’s pairs event and the men’s skeet team finished fifth at the Karni Singh Shooting Ranges.

Tejaswini and Meena won the bronze. The gold went to Scotland’s Jen McIntosh (591) and Kay Copland (578) while English girls Michelle Smith (590) and Sharon Lee (579) claimed the silver. Both England and Scotland were tied on 1169 points, but Scotland won the gold on the basis of 60 perfect 10s while England had 52.

Tejaswini, a world champion in the 50 metre prone, shot 583 while Meena had a total of 585 as India finished with 1168 points.

Jen said strong winds at the shooting ranges made the competition difficult.

“They were pretty tough. It wasn’t easy out there today. The wind was up and it was quiet strong and was flicking about a wee bit. We shoot at a reasonably sheltered range back home and so it was a bit of struggle,” said Jen.

India’s Mairaj Ahmed Khan (94) and Allan Daniel People (92) finished fifth in the skeet pairs with a score of 186.

The gold in the event went to Cyprus with Georgios Achilleos (100) and Andreas Chasikos (94) equalling the Games record of 194. The record was set by Achilleos and compatriot Antonis Nikolaides at the 2002 Manchester Games.

Canada’s Jason Hughes Caswell (97) and Richard McBride (94) won the silver with a total score of 191 and England’s Richard Brikwell (96) and Clive Bramley (95) got the bronze, also with a score of 191. Canada won the silver on the basis of two perfect rounds of 25 shot by Caswell while England had none.