Malaika Goel, who bagged a surprise silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow today, has been supported by not-for-profit organisation, Olympic Gold Quest, founded jointly by Indian sports greats Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi.
"OGQ is very proud to have supported Malaika Goel since she was 14 years old. This silver medal is just the start for her. I'm sure she will win many medals for India on the big stage in the years to come," said OGQ's CEO Viren Rasquinha.
"OGQ is very proud that Malaika has won a medal at her first Commonwealth Games and we are fully supporting her in her pursuit of an Olympic medal for India at Rio 2016," he added.
Sixteen-year-old Malaika displayed composure beyond her years in the final to clinch the second spot. She shot a 197.1 in the final, missing the gold medal by 1.5 points to Shun Xie Teo of Singapore after entering the final round with 378 out of 400 earlier in qualification in 4th position.
Her compatriot and gold medal favourite Heena Sidhu, also supported by OGQ, missed out on a medal by finishing a lowly seventh, but former hockey captain Rasquinha held out hopes that she would bounce back strongly.
"It's unfortunate that Heena missed out on a medal after topping the qualification. But she is a tough competitor and she will come back strongly," he said.
Heena had topped qualification with a world class score of 383 out of 400 but lost her way in the final. The new rules in shooting do not take into account qualification scores and the final starts with all shooters at zero.
