Brisbane: London Olympics bronze medalist Gagan Narang clinched the silver medal in the Men’s 50M Rifle Prone event at the ongoing Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane, Australia. Young star Swapnil Kusale also impressed with a bronze medal while experienced campaigner Annu Raj Singh achieved the same standing, in the Women’s 25M Pistol event.
The day started brightly for the Indians as both Gagan and Swapnil, competing in the same event qualified for the eight-men finals. But while Gagan scored 617.6 after 60 shots, his younger teammate outshot him with a score of 619.1, to finish third ahead of the Comonwealth Games gold medalist who finished fourth.
“It was a very windy day and I had to dig deep. It was a test of my patience as I had to release my shots at the right time,” Narang said, as quoted by there Times of India.
Gagan who was participating in a major tournament for the first time since the 2016 Rio Olympics looked sharp with every shot. It will however take a double effort from him if he is aiming for the gold in the upcoming Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and he observed the same as he said, “It was a test event for the Commonwealth Games next year and one of the things to test was the wind conditions and I did just that today. The final score still can be better and I know that I need to put in some more in that direction.”
Meanwhile, Dane Sampson of Australia bagged the gold medal with a Commonwealth record of 624.3, while Sushil Ghalay, India’s third contestant in the event finished 10th, with a score of 614.1, among the 22 participants.
10M Air Pistol Gold medalist Heena Sidhu along with three other Indian Women qualified for the finals. While, Annu Raj with a score of 578 led the Indian charts, teammate Rahi Sarnobat came third and Heena finished fifth in the 25M Pistol qualifiers.
India has already bagged 10 medals from Rifle and Pistol events in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships, that includes three gold, three silver and four bronze medals.