Indian shooters got off to a rollicking start to their Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games campaign, winning 3 golds and 5 silvers on day 4 of the competition.
The latest gold for India was won by Rahi Sarnobat in the women’s 25-meter pistol event, which was held at the Barry Buddon Shooting Center in Glasgow. The silver was also won by an Indian woman, Anisa Sayyed, while the bronze medal was won by Lalita Yauhleuskaya of Australia.
Rahi Sarnobat is only 23 years old and is from the town of Kolhapur in Maharashtra. Her win was a mini surprise as her more experienced and accomplished teammate, the 33-year-old Anisa Sayyed was considered to be the favorite. But Rahi led Anisa throughout the competition, leading the semi-finals with 16 points to Anisa’s 14. India is strongly represented in the women’s category of the shooting competition, and the win in the women’s 25-meter pistol event was more or less expected.
Another young Indian woman, Apurvi Chandela kept the nation’s flag flying high, winning the gold medal in the women’s 10 meter air rifle contest, also at the Barry Buddon Shooting Range on Saturday. This was Apurvi’s very first medal in an international event and it couldn’t have come for her at a better time. Here too, Indian women completely dominated the event, with Ayonika Paul coming in a close second and winning the silver. The competition between Apurvi and Ayonika was as close as it gets and went to the proverbial wire, with the unheralded Apurvi outlasting the more experienced Ayonika who is ranked No. 8 in the world at women’s rifle events. The silver for Ayonika follows her bronze medal at the World Shooting Championship earlier this year at Slovenia.
Apurvi, who is ranked No. 17 in the world, won the qualifications earlier with 415.6 points. She was right ahead of the other shooters throughout the finals, by was followed closely by 21-year-old Ayonika. The difference in the final points tally was really close between the two, with Apurvi getting 206.7 points, just marginally ahead of Ayonika’s 204.9 points.
But the most memorable performance for India was by Abhinav Bindra, the ace Indian shooter, who won the Gold in his favorite shooting event, the 10 meter Air Rifle, in a nail biting contest with Abdullah Baki of Bangladesh. But Bindra, who is famous as India’s only individual Olympic gold winner ever, which he won at the 2012 London Olympics, used all his experience gathered over a decade and a half spent at top shooting competitions all over the world, to hold his nerve and win at the last moment.
Abhinav was relieved at the end, and this Gold medal is a fitting end to his Commonwealth Games career, as the shooter from New Delhi had decided earlier that Glasgow 2014 would be the last time he would be taking part in this competition.
“This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWG and nine medals, it is enough for me,” a happy Abhinav Bindra said in an interview later. “It was a well-earned medal because I work hard and I am happy to have achieved the feat. I got the desired result.”
When asked if the Olympic Games to be held at Rio in 2016 would be his very last international tournament, Bindra replied, “I will take one thing at a time. I will decide later.” After making a joke about joining journalism after his retirement as it was a much easier job, which had the Indian journalists in Glasgow in splits, Bindra said that the World Shooting Championships was his next priority. “I will relax a bit and then prepare for the World Cup.”
The 10 meter Air Rifle event is Bindra’s favorite category, one in which he has had great success, including the gold medal at the last Olympics held in London.
Shreyasi Singh and Prakash Nanjappa continued the wonderful performance by Indian shooters, each winning a silver medal. While Shreyasi won her silver medal in the women’s double trap event, Prakash won his at men’s 10 meter air pistol event. The won was a triumph for Prakash who was afflicted by a serious facial paralysis only till a year ago.
