Glasgow, July 26:
Young Rajasthan girl Apurvi Chandela got India its second gold from the shooting range winning the 10m Air Rifle event at the Commonwealth Games here today as compatriot Ayonika Paul boosted the medal tally with a silver.
Earlier, Prakash Najappa had got a silver in the 10m Air Pistol event as India now have two gold and two silver medals from the range.
21-year-old Chandela led from the beginning to win the yellow metal with a score of 206.7 while Ayonika finished a creditable second with a score of 204.9.
It was only fitting that the Jaipur girl, who started shooting only six years back after watching Abhinav Bindra get gold in the Beijing Olympics, won in the legendary shooter’s pet event.
Chandela, whose father has built a shooting range at home, trains under her uncle Hem Singh.
She was consistency personified throughout the event as she topped the qualifying rounds with a score of 415.6. Ayonika qualified with a fourth position.
In the main round, Chandela regularly scored between 10.2 to 10.7 as she always maintained atleast 1.5 points difference from his nearest rival.
Ayonika was not in medal contention till the first 10 shots but she was brilliant in the back 10 as she regularly fired 10.5 to 10.7 to improve her position.
Earlier, Nanjappa finished a heart-breaking second in men’s 10m Air Pistol to give India their third medal.
Nanjappa, who won a bronze in the ISSF World Cup in South Korea last year, was leading at the end of the second series of the elimination stage but he apparently lost concentration and shot a disappointing 7.7 to hand the lead to eventual winner Daniel Repacholi of Australia.
Despite the setback in the sixth shot of the elimination stage, the 38-year-old Banglorean tried his best to catch up with the Australian but failed to do so in the end and had to settle with a silver at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre at Dundee today. (PTI)
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