Heena wins gold, Deepak gets silver at Commonwealth Shooting C’ship

Heena Sidhu claimed the 10m air pistol gold, while Deepak Kumar fetched a silver in the 10m air rifle event to give India a fine start at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships here.

Sidhu shot a combined score of 626.2 (386+240.8) to claim the top honours. This was Sidhu’s second successive international gold after she, along with Jitu Rai, claimed the top position in the 10m air pistol mixed team event in the ISSF World Cup Finals in Delhi earlier this month.

Among other Indians in fray here, Deepak Kumar won a bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event. London Olympic bronzemedallist Gagan Narang finished fourth in the same event, while Ravikumar ended fifth. Narang shot 626.2 in the qualification to create Commonwealth record.

Sidhu was strong through the day, topping qualification with a high score of 386, her best in international competition since the 387 she shot at the Asian Championship in Delhi two years ago.

In the final, Sidhu opened up a gap of over two points after the first five shot series itself over her nearest rival and led throughout, nailing the title with a perfect 10.9 in the 23rd and penultimate shot.

Elena Galiabovitch of Australia won the silver medal with a score of 238.2 to Heena’s 240.8 while Kristy Gillman, also from the host country, won Bronze with 213.7. India’s Harveen Srao finished fourth in the final with a score of 194.1 while the third Indian, Shri Nivetha Paramanantham was the fourth finalist to be eliminated. She finished fifth with a finals score of 174.5.

BRISBANE:

LAHIRI MISSING BUT INDIANS STILL STRONG

New Delhi: Country’s top golfer Anirban Lahiri will be missing from the field but defending champion Mukesh Kumar along with talented youngsters such as Ajitesh Sandhu will spearhead a strong Indian challenge when the Panasonic Open begins here on Thursday. The Indians have dominated the event with five of them winning the trophy in six editions so far. Australia’s Wade Ormsby is the only foreign player to win here, in 2014.

Veteran Jeev Milkha Singh, Shiv Kapur, SSP Chawrasia and former champion Chiragh Kumar are all in the field along with many youngsters who have been performing well on the Asian Tour.