Putting up an inspired display, India’s athletes gave a big impetus to the country’s ambitious target of finishing second in the Commonwealth Games by hauling up 13 medals, including six gold, on a productive third day today.
India continued to rule the roost at the Dr Karni Singh shooting range by grabbing six medals, including three gold, while more success came from the weightlifing arena and wrestling mat, ensuring that the hosts retained the second position behind Australia.
Weightlifters Renu Bala Chanu (women’s 58 kg) and K Ravi Kumar (69 kg), who also set a new Games record, along with 55 kg Greco-Roman grappler Rajender Kumar, provided the last three golds to make it a most fruitful day for the country.
In the morning, the shooters held sway by adding three silver medals as well to the country’s kitty, while rifle marksman Gagan Narang and pistol experts Anisa Sayyed and Omkar Singh accounted for the yellow metal.
The four silver medals won by India came through the efforts of Olympic shooting champion Abhinav Bindra, shooter Sornabat Rahi, trap shooters Ronjan Sondhi and Asher Noria and grappler Manoj Kumar.
There were three bronze medals, won by wrestlers Dharmendra Dalal and Sunil Kumar and para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar, that rounded off India’s impressive medal heist.
The total three-day medal tally by India read 11-8-5 which placed them at the second spot below Australia (18-14-9).
England were third with 6-11-8 but would fancy their chances of increasing the fig-ure with the athletics competition getting under way.
The day began with world champion Narang’s glorious run, at the expense of Beijing Olympic champion and teammate Bindra, in the men’s 10m individual air rifle event, with a Games record to go with it.
Hyderabad sharp-shooter Narang set the tone by firing a perfect 600 to equal his own world record on his way to upsetting Bindra, for his second gold medal of these Games.
He had teamed up with the Chandigarh-based Bindra to clinch the 10m air rifle pairs gold the first for the country in the Games yesterday.
Narang performed better in the finals too by scoring 103.6 to Bindra’s 103.0 to settle the fight for the gold with an overall tally of 703.6, a new Games mark. Bindra’s total was 698. Incidentally Bindra had won the gold in the Beijing Olympics in the same event. Englishman James Huckle settled for the bronze.
Omkar Singh and Anisa Sayyed also garnered gold medals in men’s 50m pistol singles and women’s 25m pistol singles events, tallying 653.6 and 786.8, respectively. Sarnobat Rahi (781) won the silver in the 225m event to add to the title she won with Anisa in pairs yesterday. Also attaining second place was the Indian double trap pair of Ronjan Sondhi and Asher Noria. The duo finished one point behind gold medal winners Steven Wolton and Steven Scott (189) of England. Malaysian duo Benjamin Chen Khor and Chye Chen Khor picked up the bronze with 185.
The fourth gold fetched by lifter Renu Bala Chanu was in the women’s 58 kg class with a clearance of 197 kg, that was five kg more than the total lift of Lee Seen of Australia. Zoe Smith of England won the bronze with 188 kg. Rajender Kumar provided the country with the fifth gold medal when he won the 55-kg category class, defeating Pakistan’s Azhar Hussain 11-0 in the summit contest.
