Shooters scoop five medals to put India in second spot

New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI) Indian shooters expectedly came
up with a top drawer show to pick up two gold and as many
silver medals as India crept up to the second spot in the
medals tally behind leaders Australia at the Commonwealth
Games in the Indian capital New Delhi.
Ace marksmen Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang, one an
Olympic champion and the other a world record holder, opened
India's gold medal haul in the men's 10m air rifle pairs event
with a Games record of 1193, overtaking their own mark of 1189
set four years ago in Melbourne.
Their feat was followed by a superb display of calm
nerves and dead centre shooting by the women's duo of Rahi
Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed who added the second gold in the
women's 25m pistol pairs event with a championship record of
1156 to boot.
The two silver medals were earned by Deepak Sharma and
Omkar Singh, in the men's 50m pistol pairs event, and the
woman's duo of world champion Tejaswini Sawant and Lajjakumari
Gauswami, who stood second in the pairs 50m rifle 3 position,
at the Dr Karni Singh range.
Bindra, India's only individual Olympic gold medal
winner, and world record holder Narang fired in unison to open
India's golden run after a blank day for the hosts Monday.
Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed brought home the second
gold in women's 25m pistol pairs with a new Games mark and
also relegated the previous record setters to the second spot.
The duo bettered the eight-year-old mark of 1150 by
Australia's Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Lindia Ryan created at
Manchester while also pushing the fancied Aussie duo to the
silver standard.
Sharma and Omkar ended up second in the men's 50m pairs
event (1187) behind Lim Swee Hon and Gai Bin of Singapore to
round off an excellent morning for the sharp shooters on the
first day of competitions.
Later Tejaswani and Lajjakumari finished second in the
women's 50m air rifle 3 position, by equalling the 2006 Games
mark of 1143 points, Singapore's Aquilah Sudhir and Jasmine
Xiang Wei who broke the previous record by six points.
The two shooting gold medals also lifted the country to
the second spot from last night's seventh in the medals table
behind leaders Australia with a tally of 2 gold, 4 silver and
2 bronze medals. The Aussies have a 7-4-1 tally.
Monday, India had secured two silver and as many bronze
from the weightlifting arena.
"Many thought I am a dictator, since I had imposed a gag
order on the shooters prior to the Games. But whatever I was
doing, I was doing for the country. And we have got the reward
for that," said a beaming national coach Sunny Thomas after
his team members won a medal in each of the four events they
took part in during the day. PTI