It was again Gagan Narang who struck the first Gold of the day with his partner Imran Hasan Khan in ‘Pairs 50 m Rifle 3 Positions Men’. Scoring 2325, the duo went on to break the 16 years old record of Canada’s Michael Dion and Wayne Sorensen (2300). Gagan scored 1167 hitting the bull’s eye 62 times while his partner Imran scored 1158 with 44 bull’s eye hit. Much below the Indians at 2308 points were the England pair – James Huckle (1158) & Kenny Parr (1150) and Scottish pair Jonathan Hammond (1160) & Neil Stirton (1148). However the Silver Medal went to England as they have hit the bull’s eye 105 times while the Scottish hit it 104 times.
With three more events still to go for him, Gagan is not celebrating this achievement as yet. “I am happy, but I am not going to party just yet. I am putting it off till after the Asian Games (in Guangzhou next month).”
In ‘Pairs Trap Women’ Shreyasi Singh and Seema Tomar could not bring any medal for India. They finished 5th scoring 89 points. It was the Australian pair – Laetisha Scanlan (48) & Stacy Roiall (45) who won the Gold with a score of 93. They created a new games record breaking Australia’s Daina Reeves and Nessa Jenkins 8 year’s old record of 90 points. Just Two points below them were England’s Abbey Burton (46) & Anita North (45). The Bronze medal went to Canadian pair – Sue Nattrass (46) & Cynthia Meyer (44) whose combine score read 90 points.
The failure of the Indian Women Shooters did not deter their male counterparts. Vijay Kumar, with an own record breaking score of 787.5 added another Gold to his name after winning Gold with Gurpreet Singh yesterday. Gurpreet, competing against his partner, won the Bronze Medal in ‘Men’s 25 M Rapid Fire Pistol Singles’ with a score of 758.7 points. Far below the Gold Medalist at 760.3 points was Hasli Izwan Amir Hasan of Malaysia who won the Silver.
Vijay said the success made him feel special.
'It always feels special, because this is the second time I have broken the Games record and that too by winning the gold medal. I am grateful to the Army, which has been providing me with all the help,' he said.
Asked which medal was special, individual or pairs, Vijay said: 'The individual, obviously.'
Winning the bronze, Gurpreet was unhappy with his performance.
'I am extremely unhappy with my scores. I expected a better show from myself. Now I am looking forward to perform better in my next events,' he said.
However in ‘Pairs Trap Men’ Michael Diamond of Australia seize the Gold away with his brilliant 100 out of 100 shots along with his partner Adam Vella who scored 98. Scoring 197 Mansher Singh (99) and Manavjit Singh Sandhu (98) had to settle for the Silver. While the Bronze medal went to Aron Heading (99) and Dave Kirk (94) of England scoring 193.
Manavjit Singh Sandhu, on missing the Gold said “It is a little disappointing. Until the last shot we were good. But, this is the way it is.It is a big event and everyone comes prepared.”
The day at Dr. Karni Singh Stadium ended with another Gold Medal. The consistent Omkar Singh won the 20th Gold for India scoring 681.8 (584 in Qualification round and 97.8 in Final round). Bin Gai, a strong competitor of Omkar from Singapore won the Silver with a score of 676 (580 in Qualification round and 96.2 in Final round). Daniel Rapacholi of Australia won the Bronze with a score of 674 points (575 in Qualification round and 99 in Final round)
“I am happy that my hard work has paid off. I just want to relax and focus ahead. I have a few important competitions coming up and the Asian Games is one of them” said Omkar after winning his third Gold in four events.
With Gagan Narang, Vijay Kumar and Tejaswini Sawant, who is yet to make a decent mark in this game, playing tomorrow along with others, India will certainly like to maintain this good show and win more medals for the country.
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