Commonwealth Games 2018 : Heena Sidhu won the gold medal in the women’s 25 metre pistol final as she shot a 38 to bag her second medal of the Games. Sidhu, who had won a silver after finishing second to Manu Bhaker in the 10 m air pistol on Sunday, set a Games record with her effort in the final.
Heena Sidhu trailed Elena Galiabovitch of Australia initially, after the home favourite started well, shooting 13 of her first 15 shots. Sidhu missed five of her first 15, but went on a scoring spree after the completion of 20 shots.
Annu Singh was eliminated early after making only 15 of her 30 shots and four of her last 10 shots as she fell behind early, and could not recover. This meant that India did not repeat of the 1-2 they had managed in this event at the last two Commonwealth Games.
The remaining Indian, Sidhu though was in red-hot form between shots 21 to 40, making 18 of them while Galiabovitch could only make 12 of them. Sidhu then had a mini-wobble in the 9th round of shots, when she made three out of 5 shots while her Australian opponent made four.
Heading into the final round of shots, Sidhu had a score of 34 and a two-point lead over her nearest rival. She held her nerve, however and displayed some ice-cool shooting skills as she made four of her five final shots, ending up with a 38. Galiabovitch ended up with silver. Alia Sazana Alahari of Malaysia finished with the bronze.
Boxer Amit enters semifinals
Indian boxer Amit Panghal secured his first Commonwealth medal in light flyweight(49kg) category. Amit reached semifinals by defeating Scotland’s Aqeel Ahmed in a split 4-1 verdict. Chasing a third successive international gold, the 22-year-old from Haryana overcame a rusty start to turn the tables on his opponent. He had won gold medals at the India Open and the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria before coming into the Games.
Jitu Rai gets India’s 8th gold as women shooters continue to shine
