News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp
Home  » Sports » Indian shooters strike three silver

Indian shooters strike three silver

Source: PTI
December 03, 2006 21:26 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Manavjit Singh Sandhu stole the thunder at the Lusaill shooting ranges, clinching two silver medals for India in the men's trap event in extremely windy conditions.

World champion Sandhu teamed with Anwar Sultan and Mansher Singh to clinch the team silver but then had to be content with a second place finish in the individual event, held amidst gusty winds that did have an effect on the shooters.

The women's 10m air pistol team, comprising Harveen Srao, Sonia Rai and Shweta Choudhury, then brought more glory for the country, bagging the silver medal with a tally of 1142 points.

China predictably took the gold in the event with a new Asian Games record 1161 points while Korea had to be content with bronze, with 1140 points.

The Indians, who had bagged two bronze medals on the opening day of competition, now have a tally of three silver and two bronze in the event, which has been dominated by Asian powerhouse China.

Manavjit was neck and neck with his Naser Meqlad in the final before the Kuwaiti shooter gradually increased his lead and tilted the scale in his favour on a day of mixed fortunes for the Indians.

Apart from the two medals in the trap event, it was otherwise a disappointing day for the Indians with the much-touted Samaresh Jung failing to qualify for the final of the men's 10m air pistol event with a rather poor score of 576.

India went into the day with expectations of a gold medal as Manavjit led the table on the first day of qualifications but the strong winds paid put to their chances.

Manavjit finished with a score of 130 while Kuwait's Meqlad clinched the gold with 133 and his compatriot Khaled Almudhaf had to be content with the bronze with 128.

"Well, I am disappointed for not being able to win a gold medal. I gave my best shot, but the conditions were tough because of the strong winds. Luck played a big part today," Manavjit said.

"The conditions were not ideal. The left targets were being swept away by the winds and it was not easy to perform at your best," he said.

Manavjit said the he had prepared hard for the event though it was coming at the fag end of the year. "We all trained hard last year we got only a silver; this year we have two, so we can say that there is an improvement," he said.

Anwer Sultan, who also made it to the final, finished sixth with a total of 122 while Mansher Singh failed to make the cut with a score of 99.

The performance of 'Goldfinger' Samresh Jung, who shot Olympic level scores in the trials, came as a disappointment in the men's 10m air pistol event as he produced a below-par score to finish 11th in the qualifications.

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: PTI© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Paris Olympics 2024

India's Tour Of Australia 2024-25