Glasgow: It was a memorable swansong at the Commonwealth Games for Abhinav Bindra as the ace marksman bagged the 10m air rifle gold medal in a gripping finale with young schoolgirl Malaika Goel turning out to be surprise package winning silver in the 10m air pistol event.
After a cracking opening day where they bagged seven medals, it was a relatively quieter day for the Indians as they added a gold, silver and a bronze to their tally.
Apart from the two medals at the shooting range, India won a bronze in the weightlifting through 20-year-old Santoshi Matsa who finished third in the women’s 53kg category.
India are currently placed fourth in the medals tally with three gold, four silver and three bronze medals behind England, Australia and Scotland.
The cynosure of the day certainly was the 31-year-old Bindra, who finally won an individual gold at the quadrennial extravaganza, which had eluded him on four previous attempts.
Bindra, who has already won nine medals including three gold in pairs events, was calmness personified as he did not put a foot wrong in the final round, having finishing third in the qualifications at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre,Dundee.
Bindra, first Indian Olympic individual gold medallist, shot an aggregate of 205.3 to set a Games Record.
“This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWG and nine medals, it is enough for me,” Bindra said while speaking to Indian journalists.
“It was a well-earned medal because I work hard and I am happy to have achieved the feat. I got the desired result.”
Asked if Rio 2016 would be his last Olympics, he said, “I will take on thing at a time. I will decide later.”
He joked that after retirement he would take up journalism as career. “Journalism is an easy job, I may become a journalist after my shooting career.”
Bindra said he would now focus to the World Championships to be held in a few months time.
“I will relax a bit and then prepare for the World Cup,” he said.
The 16-year-old Malaika gave India its first shooting medal with a score of 197.1 while favourite Heena Sidhu fell by the waysidein Dundee.
India’s good show in the weightlifting arena continued as young Andhra girl Santoshi grabbed the bronze medal with a total lift of 188kg in snatch and clean and jerk to get the bronze as 16-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl Chika Amalaha won the gold with a total lift of 196kg.
India’s Swati Singh, who was placed third at the end of the snatch event finished fourth with 183kg. It was the second time that Swati missed out on a podium having finished fourth during the last edition in the last edition.
The Indian men’s hockey team launched their campaign on a sluggish note as they toiled hard to register a 3-1 win over a lowly Wales in their opening Pool A match at the National Hockey Centre.
Indian judokas failed to replicate their opening day performance with Sunibala Huidrom missing out on a bronze medal in the women’s 70 kg event losing to Sally Conway of Scotland.
Sunibala faced a tough test in the repechage contest but she managed to prevail over Monika Burgess of Canada in a battle that lasted for three minutes and 58 seconds to make the medal round.
She will now fight for the bronze medal with Scotland’s Sally Conway later in the day.
However, it was curtains for Garima Choudhary in the women’s 63kg category after she went down fighting in her repechage round.
Indian men had a disappointing outing as both Balvinder Singh and V Vikender Singh lost in the round of 32 in 73kg and 81kg, respectively.
In swimming, Sandeep Sejwal became the first Indian swimmer to clear the qualification round and make it to the semifinals of the men’s 100m breaststroke event.
India’a paddlers continued their rampaging form as the men’s and women’s teams blanked Guyana and Kenya 3-0 respectively in the group stage of the table tennis team competition. (PTI)
