Shooters Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar win gold in 25m rapid fire pistol event

The day belonged to shooter Gurpreet Singh, as he helped India win two more golds in the pairs events. Gurpreet first paired with Vijay Kumar to win the first gold of the day in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event and later joined hands with Omkar Singh to top the podium in the men’s 10m air pistol pairs at the Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Thursday. In the double trap individual, Ronjan Singh Sodhi won silver, while Asher Noria missed the bronze by a whisker.

Interestingly, both the gold medallist pairs created new Games record. In the 25m rapid fire pistol event, Vijay and Gurpreet scored 1,162 points (Vijay 587, Gurpreet 575) and broke the earlier record of 1,134 points, which was created by Vijay and Pemba Tamang during the Melbourne edition. Gurpreet then came up with Omkar to break Samaresh Jung and Vivek Singh’s record of 1,154 points, as they scored 1,163 (Omkar 587, Gurpreet 576).

Though both Gurpreet and Omkar shot well, they were not satisfied with their performances. “I feel I could have done well in both my events today, but made little mistakes. But I am happy that we won gold,” said Gurpreet.

Omkar, who shot 576, did not look comfortable before the match. “I was struggling with my concentration and that is why I was taking my time before every shot,” said Omkar.

In the double trap event, Ronjan clinched a nail-biting silver, while young Asher Noria missed the bronze by a point in the tie-breaker. England’s Steven Walton won the gold. In the final, Walton scored 190 points, while Ronjan, Asher and James Kneale scored 186 taking the match to a three-way tie. In the tiebreaker, Ronjan scored all the eight clays, while Noria and Kneale missed one. For the bronze medal, Noria missed one clay, while Kneale held his nerve to claim the bronze.

In the women’s 50m 3 position rifle individual event, Indian shooter Tejaswini Sawant failed to qualify for the final. Lajja Goswami, who entered the final, failed to win a medal and finished sixth. Australia’s Alethea Sedgman won the gold, while Singapore’s duo of Jasmine Ser and Aqilah Sudhir won silver and bronze respectively.

Thursday’s results
Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol pairs: Gold: Gurpreet Singh and Vijay Kumar (Ind), Silver: Hasli Izwan Hasan Amir and Hafiz Adzha (Mas), Bronze: Bruce Quick and David Chapman (Aus), Men’s 10m air pistol: Gold: Gurpreet Singh and Omkar Singh (Ind), Silver: Nick Baxter and Michael Gault (Eng), Bronze: Bin Gai and Swee Hon Lim (Sin), Men’s double trap individual: Gold: Steve Walton (Eng), Silver: Ronjan Sodhi (Ind), Bronze: Tim Kneale (IOM), Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position: Gold: Alethea Sedgman (Aus) Silver: Xiang Wei (Sin) Bronze: Aqilah Sudhir (Sin)