India shines at Commonwealth shooting

Brisbane, Nov 5: Anish Bhanwala got India a silver in the mens 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol, while Neeraj Kumar bagged a bronze in the same event on day six of the ongoing Commonwealth Shooting Championships here on Sunday.

This takes India's tally from Rifle and Pistol events in the competition to 16, including four gold medals.

Additionally, India has won one gold and one silver from Shotgun events.

India had three among six finalists in the men's Rapid Fire Pistol, with Olympian Gurpreet Singh also qualifying along with Anish and Neeraj. Anish topped qualification with a score of 577, while Neeraj was second with 575. Gurpreet qualified in fifth place with a score of 566.

Gurpreet was first to be eliminated in the final in the same position as he qualified but Anish and Neeraj fought on gamely for the silver and bronze after Australian Sergei Evglevski made the gold beyond reach, pulling away from the field after the fourth five-shot series.

Neeraj won a fourth place elimination shoot-off over England's Sam Gowin to assure himself of a medal. He had to be content with bronze as Anish beat him 21-19 after the sixth series.

In the end, Sergei ended with a score of 28 out of 40 to win Gold, while Anish was two behind with 26.

In the women's Rifle 3 Positions, Scotland's Seonaid Mcintosh won gold with a final round score of 459.9. Englad's Katie Gleeson took silver and Singapore's Martina Veloso the bronze.

Gaayathri finished fourth shooting 429.7 and was the best placed among three Indian finalists. Aditi Singh finished sixth while Tejaswini Sawant, the third Indian in the eight-woman final finished seventh.

In the women's Trap, India's Shreyasi Singh made it her second final of the Championships but missed out on her second medal by finishing sixth. She shot 11 in the final, after winning a shoot-off with compatriot Seema Tomar during qualification.

Australia's Laetisha Scanlan won gold in the event, while Sharon Niven of Scotland got silver. Rio Olympics silver medalist Natalie Rooney of New Zealand got the bronze.