New Delhi: Heena Sidhu clinched the gold medal at the 10M Air Pistol Women’s event in the ongoing Commonwealth Shooting Championship in Brisbane. This is her second international gold in two weeks after she, along with Jitu Rai tasted success at the Mixed Team Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup final in New Delhi. Deepak Kumar won the bronze medal in the Men’s 10M Air Rifle event.
The 28-year-old Sidhu put up a solid performance throughout the day as she notched up a score of 386, which is her best since the 387 she had scored at the Asian Championship two years ago in New Delhi. Sidhu opened up a two-point gap in the final after the first five-shot series itself and dominated the proceedings entirely, winning the gold with 10.9 points in her 23rd and penultimate shot.
Australia’s Elena Galiabovitch won the silver with a score of 238.2 to Heena’s 240.8 while Kristy Gillman settled for the bronze with 213.7 points.
India’s Harveen Srao ended with a fourth-place finish with a score of 194.1 in the final while Shri Nivedita Paramanantham was the fourth finalist to be eliminated. She ended up at the fifth position with a final score of 174.5 in the final.
Former Olympic bronze medalist Gagan Narang broke the Commonwealth qualification record to top the qualification with a score of 626.2 in the 10M Men’s Air Rifle event followed by fellow Indians Ravi Kumar in the second position with 625 points and Deepak Kumar in the fifth, with 620.3 points, who all made it to the eight-man final.
Alex Hoberg of Australia however was the star as he bagged the gold in the final with a score of 247.6 after the alloted 24 shots. He encountered a tough challenge from countryman Jack Rossiter, who settled for the silver with 245.5 points.
Deepak Kumar won the bronze with a score of 224.2 while Gagan finished fourth with 203 points. Ravi Kumar ended up at the fifth position with a score of 182.2 in the final round.
India’s Rashmmi Rathore qualified for the six-woman final with a qualification round score of 65 out of 75 in the Women’s Skeet. She finished sixth at the end. But fellow Indians Maheshwari Chauhan and Sania Sheikh missed out winning medals as they both shot 64 and 62 respectively.