Heena Sidhu clinches gold at Commonwealth Championships

Heena Sidhu claimed the 10m air pistol gold, while Deepak Kumar fetched a silver in the 10m air rifle event to give India a fine start at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships yesterday

Heena Sidhu claimed the 10m air pistol gold, while Deepak Kumar fetched a silver in the 10m air rifle event to give India a fine start at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships yesterday. Sidhu shot a combined score of 626.2 (386+240.8) to claim the top honours. This was her second successive international gold after she, along with Jitu Rai, claimed the top position in the 10m air pistol mixed team event in the ISSF World Cup Finals in Delhi earlier this month.

Heena Sidhu

Deepak bags bronze
Among other Indians in the fray here, Deepak Kumar won a bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event. London Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang finished fourth in the same event, while Ravikumar ended fifth. Narang shot 626.2 in the qualification to create Commonwealth record. Sidhu was strong through the day, topping qualification with a high score of 386, her best in international competition since the 387 she shot at the Asian Championship in Delhi two years ago.

Sidhu in total control
In the final, Sidhu opened up a gap of over two points after the first five shot series itself over her nearest rival and led throughout, nailing the title with a perfect 10.9 in the 23rd and penultimate shot. Elena Galiabovitch of Australia won the silver medal with a score of 238.2 to Heena’s 240.8 while Kristy Gillman won Bronze with 213.7 India’s Harveen Srao finished fourth in the final with a score of 194.1 while the third Indian, Shri Nivetha Paramanantham was the fourth finalist to be eliminated. She finished fifth with a finals score of 174.5.

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