Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu Wednesday said she was too exhausted before the final of the 10 metre air pistol and missed the gold by 0.3 points on the last day of the competition at the Commonwealth Games.

Patiala-girl Heena totalled 481.6 (383 qualifying, 98.6 final) to win the silver while the gold went to Malaysia’s Pei Chin Bibiana with a score of 481.9 (383 final, 98.9 qualifying). Australia’s Dina Apsandiyarova settled for the bronze with 478.8 points (380 qualifying, 98.8 final) at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.

“I was focussing too much before the final and by the time the final round took place I was completely exhausted. I started feeling cold and lost my focus. Silver was not my job today. I was only aiming for the gold. But anyway I tried hard. It was hard luck for me today,” said Heena, who had won the gold with Annu Raj Singh in the pairs’ event of the 10 metre air pistol here Monday.

Heena topped the qualifying and was also leading the pack of eight shooters till the seventh shot in the final round of the individual event. But the 21-year-old student of Bachelor of Dental Surgery buckled under pressure in the last three shots.

Asked if there was any pressure on her after the seventh shot, the 21-year-old said: “I didn’t know I was leading. My job was in front of me, so I was not calculating the scores. But even till the seventh or the eighth shot, my scores were bad. My qualification scores were also bad. In fact, I shot better scores in the qualification yesterday than today,” she said.

Heena is now targeting next month’s Asian Games in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

“I know I can shoot better than what I did today. I have a better job to do in the Asian Games,” she said.