Indian Shooters At CWG: A Roundup On April 10

Gold Coast: Heena Sidhu won gold in the women's 25 metre Pistol event, while Chain Singh and Gagan Narang failed to ensure any medals in the men's 50m Rifle Prone event on a mixed day for Indian shooters at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Tuesday.

Heena, who finished third in the qualifier, notched up a new CWG record of 38 points in the final to take the title in style. Another Indian in this event, Annu Singh finished sixth with a below-par performance that gave her 15 points as she exited after six series.

In the men's 50m Rifle Prone, Chain finished fourth with a score of 204.8 points in the final round. Gagan was second from bottom in the eight-man final with 142.3.

Heena's medal was India's eighth -- including three golds -- in the shooting discipline as she bagged her second medal here after her silver medal win in the 10m air pistol on Sunday.

She finished ahead of Australian Elena Galiabovitch, who scored 35 to take silver while Malaysia's Alia Sazana Azahari got bronze with 26.

Elena was the fastest off the blocks in the final and Heena was trailing behind the Australian till the fifth series.

Heena did well to close the gap by scoring with all her five shots in the fifth series before another perfect score in the sixth saw her take the joint lead.

The Indian took sole lead after the first shot in the seventh series and subsequently increased the gap.

With a two-point lead at the end of the seventh series, Heena found the target in four of the five shots in the eighth to be ahead by three points.

Although the Australian managed to close the gap by one point in the ninth series, Heena held her nerves in the 10th and final series to emerge champion.

Other shooting medal hopes, Chain and 2012 Olympic medallist Gagan were not at their best. Chain was 21.8 points behind bronze medallist Kenneth Parr of England.

David Phelps of Wales won the gold medal with a new CWG record of 248.8. Neil Stirton of Scotland took silver with 247.7.

IANS