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Rediff.com  » Sports » Narang, Bindra win 10m air rifle medals

Narang, Bindra win 10m air rifle medals

Source: PTI
Last updated on: March 21, 2006 14:02 IST
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India's Gagan Narang won the gold and Abhinav Bindra the bronze in men's 10-metre air rifle individual shooting event at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Narang shot a record 698.9 (597+101.9) points to win the gold.

Singapore's Jin Shang bagged the silver with 696.9 (595+101.9) points.

Bindra's bronze was worth 695.5 (594+101.5).

Earlier, Samresh Jung won the gold medal in men's 50-metre Pistol individual event with a total of 650.2 points.

Defending champion Mick Gault of England fired 645.9 points to take home the silver.

Roger Daniel of Trinidad grabbed the bronze with 638.9 points.

However, Samresh could not break Gault's Games record, which stands at 657.5.

In 10m Rifle, Narang dazzled with his marksmanship. The Hyderabadi shooter not only created a Games record in the preliminary round but also had a final Games record (FRG) to his credit.

Gagan, who had the distinction of winning the first gold medal of shooting competition in the Games for the country along with Abhinav Bindra, shot 597 in the preliminary round with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 98 and 99.

Team mate Abhinav shot 594 (99, 99, 100, 100, 97, 99) and they qualified for the finals along with six others from a field of 27 shooters.

In the final, which was a very tense affair, Gagan was in sublime form. He shot an amazing 101.9, enabling him to pip close rival Jin Zhang of Singapore.

Zhang had an identical score of 101.9 in this round but had shot two points less than Gagan in the preliminary round (595) which cost him the gold.

The final was a heart stopper as Gagan and Zhang battled it out for the ultimate prize.

Gagan fired 10.4, 9.9, 10.2, 10.9, 9.6, 10.3, 10.0, 10.2, 9.8 and 10.6 (101.9), while Zhang's score read 10.5, 9.7, 10.3, 10.2, 10.5, 9.9, 9.9, 10.5, 9.9 and 10.5 (101.9).

Abhinav finished with a bronze, having a total of 695.5. He also shot 101.5 in the final (10.4, 10.2, 10.4, 10.1, 10.6, 10.0, 10.6, 9.9, 9.5, 9.8).

Gagan, while winning the gold in 10m Air rifle pairs along with Abhinav on the first day, also bettered the existing Games record in that event.

He bettered the four-year old Games record of 681.9 set by Asif Hossain Khan of Bangladesh by a huge margin of seven points.

''I am thrilled; the first gold was a great boost to our campaign and I am happy to win again with another new Games record,'' Gagan Said.

Abhinav complimented his compatriot for the excellent performance.

"He deserved to win," adding, "I should have done well in the preliminary round."

Gagan has three golds -- in 10m Rifle Pairs and individual and 50m Rifle three position pairs -- with Abhinav in the competition.

In the men's trap event, India's Manavjit Sandhu was tied at the top with Australian Michael Diamond with an identical score of 49 at the end of the first day's match, while other Indian veteran shooter, Mansher Singh, is lying joint seventh in a field of 41 shooters.

Both Diamond and Sandhu have scores of 24 and 25 at the end of two rounds while Mansher Singh's 46 includes 22 in first round and 24 in second.

Indian women shooters Sushma Rana and Saroja Kumari, tipped to win a medal failed, finished fourth and sixth respectively in the 25m pistol event, which was won by Australian Lalita Yauhleuskaya with a new Games record total of 781.5 (582, 199.5).

Kim Eagles of Canada won the silver with 774 (573, 201) and the bronze went to local Pamela Mckenzie 772.3 (572, 200.3).

Sushma shot 771.9 for the fourth place. The Indian shot 573 in preliminary round, 289 in Precision (98, 96, 95) and 284 in Rapid (95, 95, 94). Her final score was 198.9, 1.1 less then the bronze medal winner.

Saroja shot 763.8 for her sixth place. She had 568 in the first round with 280 in Precision (89, 95, 94) and 288 in Rapid (95, 97, 96) and in the final her total was 195.8.

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