Thaindian News

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

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) got the silver. Both England and Scotland were tied on 1169 points, but England won the gold on the basis of 60 perfect 10s while Scotland had 52 perfect 10s.

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

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

Jen said strong wind at the Karni Singh Shooting Range 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.

In the men’s skeet pair event, the gold went to Cyprus with Georgios Achilleos (100) and Andreas Chasikos (94) equalling the Games record of 194. The record was also set by Achilleos and his compatriot Antonis Nikolaides at the Manchester Games in 2002.

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.