CWG 2014: Laurels brought by Indian Shooters

 Six years ago, Abhinav Bindra made the nation proud by outdoing his competitors and winning the Gold medal for his nation in The Beijing Olympics, 2008. Since then Indian marksmen have tried their level best to do the same for their country. The result of their dedication and hard work could be seen in the in the Commonwealth Games of 2010, in Delhi, where the Indian shooters bagged 30 medals, of which 14 were Gold, 11 were Silver and 5 Bronze. This performance could not be equaled by any other nation participating then in the event.

Speaking of our performance in this year’s Commonwealth Games being held in Glasgow, the shooters have added 17 medals to our tally consisting of 4 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze. Among the men participants, Abhinav Bindra and Jitu Rai stood high with a Gold each and for the women’s team Apurvi Chandela and Rahi Sarnobat have won the other two Gold medals.

Expounding the show put up by the men, Prakash Nanjappa won silver in the 10m Air Pistol event losing to Australia’s Daniel Rapacholi. In the 10m Air Rifle event, Abhinav Bindra secured gold while Bangladesh’s Abdullah Baki won silver and England’s Dan Rivers held third position.

In the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol events, India’s Harpreet Singh had to settle for a Silver after losing to Australian David Chapman, whereas England’s Kristian Callaghan finished third. In the 50m Pistol event, India’s Jitu Rai and Gurpal Singh won gold and silver respectively while the Australian shooter Daniel Repacholi won bronze.

Finally opening his CWG account, the 2010 defending champion, Gagan Narang achieved a silver in the 50m Rifle Prone event against Australia’s Warren Potent and England’s Kenneth Parr, who won Gold and Bronze respectively. In the 50m Rifle Three Positions event Sanjeev Rajput and Gagan Narang won a silver and a bronze respectively while the gold was taken by England’s Dan Rivers. In the Trap and Double Trap events, India secured two bronze medals, won by Manavjit Singh Sidhu and Mohammed Asab respectively.

In the women shooting events, Apurvi Chandela won Gold in the 10m Air rifle event while Ayonika Paul secured a silver in the same. The next gold coming from Rahi Sanorbat through the 25m Pistol event where Anisa Sayyed won silver.

The other silver medals were won by Malaika Goel in the 10m Air Pistol event and Shreyasi Singh in Double Trap event. Lajja Gauswami won a bronze a Bronze medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event and added another medal to the nation’s tally.

The actual setback for the fans was when Gagan Narang performed erratically. Unable to secure a single gold in his pet 10m and 50m events in contrast to the 4 Gold medals he achieved for the show he put up in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi and 3 Gold medals for the one he put up in the 2006 Melbourne games.

Still, maintaining an optimistic approach, we hope that he’ll look into his performance and bring laurels for the country and add to its pride.