Guwahati, Feb 11:
The star-studded shooting squad was expectedly on target, while the track-and-field athletes continued their golden run as India held on firmly to the top spot by remaining way ahead of competition on the sixth day of the 12th South Asian Games here today.
Hitting a double century of medals, the Indian contingent has so far garnered 233, including 136 gold, 77 silver and 20 bronze.
Consistent at the second position are the Sri Lankans with 146 medals — 24 gold, 48 silver and 74 bronze in all. Pakistan occupied the third spot with 70 medals — 7 gold, 22 silver and 41 bronze.
The track and field athletes once again were the biggest contributors to India’s gold haul picking up seven today.
Suman Devi (women’s javelin), veteran Renjith Maheswary (men’s triple jump), Om Prakash Karhana (men’s shot put), P U Chitra (women’s 1500m), Ajoy Kumar Saroj (men’s 1500m), Jauna Murmu (women’s 400m hurdles) and Dharun Ayyasamy (men’s 400m hurdles) were the ones to strike gold in the track and field arena.
India dominated the shooting ranges too grabbing all the five gold medals on offer.
However, Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang had to be content with a silver in men’s individual 50m rifle prone event on the second day of the shooting competitions.
‘Gold finger’ Samaresh Jung rolled back the years as he won the gold in men’s individual 25m center fire pistol event at the Kahilipara Shooting Range here.
Narang, who won a bronze in 10m air rifle in 2012 Olympics, was leading till the fifth series but could not sustain it till the end.
Compatriot Chain Singh caught up with Narang in the sixth series before running away with the gold. Chain Singh shot a total of 184.1, while Narang had 183.1. Umar Siddique of Pakistan took the bronze.
Later, the Indian team comprising Chain Singh, Narang and Surendra Singh Rathod, won the gold in 50m rifle prone event with a total score of 1871.5. Pakistan and Sri Lanka took the silver and bronze.
In men’s 25m center fire pistol, Jung, who last won an individual medal in a top event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, beat the likes of Pemba Tamang and Vijay Kumar to win the gold.
Jung, who was best known for his stupendous five gold winning performance in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, shot a total of 580 points to clinch the gold in a tough field.
Tamang took the bronze with a total shot of 579 points while Vijay, who won a silver in 25m rapid fire pistol event in the London Olympics, got the bronze after a shoot off as three marksmen ended at 577 points.
The 45-year-old Jung, who was part of the Indian bronze winning team in 10m air rifle in 2014 Asian Games in Guangzhou, said that he would continue his shooting career and look ahead at the Commonwealth, Asian and Olympic Games.
“I could not qualify for the Rio Olympics and there are no more qualification events now. I will look ahead for the next Olympics. There is Asian Games and Commonwealth Games also,” he told PTI after winning the gold.
“Today, I did well and won the gold. I felt good. The score was also good. I will continue shooting,” he added.
Indians swept the individual event of the women’s 50m rifle prone event while also winning the team gold. (PTI)
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