Pre-tournament favourites Pemba Tamang and Vijay Kumar lived up to reputation as they clinched one more gold medal for India at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Sunday.
However, Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who teamed with Vikram Bhatnagar, had to settle for a disappointing silver in the double trap pairs event of the shooting competition.
India figured in four of the five events on Sunday morning and finished with one gold and two silvers.
Sonia Rana and Harveen Sraoo were fourth in the women's 10m Air Pistol pairs.
The other silver medal winners were Anjali Bhagwat and Anuja Jung, in women's 50m Rifle three position pairs.
India had won three gold and a silver in these four events at the Manchester Games.
Pemba Tamang, who had shown good form and performed well in the badge competition just before the start of the tournament, was in his element and provided good company to Vijay Kumar as they combined well to win the gold in the 25m Rapid Fire pistol pairs.
They totalled 1134, which was 19 points less then the Games record, but enough for the gold.
The Australian pair of David Chapman and Bruce Favell were far behind the Indians, aggregating 1116 for the silver. Metodi Igorov and Yuri Movshovich, representing Canada, earned bronze with 1111 points.
Vijay started well as he fired 98, 94 and 98 in his first series to total 290/300 and then came up with a score of 95, 95 and 91 in the second series for 281/300 to have a total of 571/600.
Tamang started with a 96 in his first series but his next two rounds were uneven. He shot 93 and 92 to end up with 281/300. The army man's second series had a score of 95, 94, 93 for 282/300, which took the overall total to 563/600.
The duo's total was good enough in the chilly conditions to earn India the gold.
Rathore disappoints
However, the much anticipated men's double trap pairs event, featuring Athens Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vikram Bhatnagar, turned out to be a wee bit disappointing as the fancied pair failed to retain the gold.
India had won the gold with a Games record total of 184 in Manchester but today they finished seven points behind the winners, scoring 179.
The Games record was sunk by the Australian pair of Russell Mark and Craig William Trembath, who shot a total of 186 for the gold.
Russell fired 47 and 46 in his two rounds to make it a total of 93 and then his teammate Trembath shot 46 and 47 to have an identical score of 93, taking their combined total to 186.
Rathore missed five targets in his first series and six in his second. The Olympic silver medal winner started on the wrong foot in his first series, missing five targets out of 50 and in the next he shot 44 out of 50 to end up with 89 (44, 45).
Vikram had a first series of 46 and then shot 44 in his next for a total of 90 and that fetched the pair a silver.
England's Richard Faulds 89 (45, 44) and Steven Walton 87 (47, 40) totalled 176 for the bronze.
Anjali-Anuja lose gold by a point
India also failed to retain gold in women's 50m rifle three position event and had to settle for a silver. The high profile pair of Anjali Bhagwat and Anuja Jung lost to the English duo of Louise Minett and Becky Spicer by a whisker.
Luck deserted the Indians at crucial moments and both Anjali and Anuja fumbled in prone which made all the difference and they lost the gold by a point.
The English pair totalled 1143 to equal the Games record. The Indians had a score of 1142 for the silver while Malaysian duo of Binti Nur Suryani and Binti Nurul Hudda, with a total of 1140, won the bronze.
In a tense match between the two pairs, Anjali shot 189 and Anuja had 192 in prone; their rivals Louise Minett shot 193 and Becky Spencer hit 197 in this component of the event to seal the gold.
Anjali started rather poorly, hitting 94/100 and then 95/100 in prone (189). In standing Anjali shot 97, 96 (193) and in kneeling her record was 96, 95 (191) to finish with a total of 573.
Anuja had a better first series score of 98/100 but in next series she missed six targets to end with 94/100 (192). Then, in standing, she shot 95, 94 (189). In kneeling she fired 92, 96 (188) for a total of 569, giving India an aggregate total of 1142.
On the other hand, Louise had 193 in prone, 189 in standing and 192 in kneeling (574) while Spicer's score showed 197 in prone, 186 in standing and 186 in kneeling (569) taking their total to 1143.
Another big disappointment awaited India in women's 10m Air Pistol pairs event. They had won a silver in this event in 2002 but this morning Sonia Rana and Harveen Sraoo finished fourth.
Local favourites, Dina Aspandiyarova (386) and Lalita Yauhleuskaya (384) shot down a Games record of 748 and the gold with a total of 770.
The Malaysian pair Joseline Cheah (375) and Chin Bibiana(383) also improved upon the Games record with 758 but had to settle for a silver.
England's Georgina Geikie(371) and Julia Lydall (379) bettered the existing Games record with 750 to earn the bronze.
Sonia Rana and Harveen equalled the Games record but that could only fetch them a disappointing fourth place. Sonia had a series of 93, 93, 94, 93 to total 373 while Harveen fired 95, 93, 94, 93 for an aggregate of 375 taking their combined total came to 748.
India has so far won nine medals in shooting events (six golds and three silvers) and they are joint leaders with Australia in this competition at the end of the third day.
Australia also have nine medals -- six gold and three silvers -- followed by England (four gold, four silver).
Indian coach Sunny Thomas was satisfied with his shooters performance today.
"Vijay Kumar and Pemba Tamang had won the Commonwealth Shooting championship last year and I was expecting they will do well," he said.
"Because of the weather there were too many flies around and that created lot of porblems for all the shooters,'' he added.
Thomas was confident of a better showing by his shooters on the remaining days of the competition.
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