Unheralded Harpreet Singh clinched silver while the seasoned Manavjit Sandhu claimed a bronze as Indian shooters continued to make an impact by adding two more medals to India’s collection on the sixth day of competitions here on Tuesday.
While Harpreet and Manavjit stole the limelight with their medal winning feats, Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar turned out to be a disappointment by making a shock exit in the men’s 25 m rapid fire pistole event. Harpreet survived two rounds of nerve-wrecking shoot-off and brushed aside a penalty point docked on him to claim silver in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event on a day when the Indian grapplers also assured themselves of at least three silver medals.
The 33-year-old Harpreet from Haryana, who topped the qualification round, hit 21 times on the target in the six-shooter final which had eight rounds of five shots each. Harpreet had won two gold in 2010 Commmonwealth Games in Delhi — 25m center fire pistol singles and 25m center fire pistol pairs events.
With the addition of two more medals, india’s overall medals tally swelled to 28 with seven gold, 13 silver and eight bronze so far but they slipped to seventh position in the medal’s standing. Australia maintained their position on top of the table with 89 medals, which includes 31 gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze medals.
They are followed by England (27-24-24), hosts Scotland (13-8-12), Canada (10-4-12), South Africa (9-7-8) and New Zealand (8-8-11). Manavjit bagged a bronze in the men’s trap event as shooters continued to do the bulk of the medal shopping at the Games with a tally of 13.
Manavjit finished third in the semifinals after hitting 13 of the 15 targets. He then beat Michael Diamond of Australia in the bronze medal match.The other Indian in the fray, Mansher Singh was sixth and last in the semifinals as he hit just 11 of the 15 targets.
The strong Indian contingent faced a heart-breakingmoment when Olympic silver medallist marksman Vijay Kumar made a shock exit in the qualification round of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event. Vijay shot a total of 555 points in the two qualification rounds to finish seventh and miss out on a place in the final round. The top six in the qualification round qualify for the final round.
Gagan Narang failed to defend his gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 position but managed to win a bronze while compatriot Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver on the concluding day of the shooting events on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Narang, who had won a bronze in the 2012 london Olympics in 10m air rifle event, shot 423.3 while Rajput aggregated 436.8 in the final held under windy conditions at the Barry Buddon Shooting Center at Dundee near here. England’s Daniel Rivers won the gold with a total of 452.9.
Vijay fails to qualify for final
Olympic silver medallist marksman Vijay Kumar on Tuesday made a shock exit in the qualification round of the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event of the 20th Commonwealth Games after finishing seventh here. Vijay shot a total of 555 points in the two qualification rounds to finish seventh and miss out on a place in the final round. The top six in the qualification round qualify for the final round.