Commonwealth Shooting: Prakash Nanjappa, Ankur Mittal take India's gold tally to five

New Delhi: India took their gold medal count to five at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships with Prakash Nanjappa and double trap shooter Ankur Mittal clinching top honours in their respective events, in Gold Coast, Brisbane, on Friday.

Nanjappa led an Indian clean-sweep at the men’s 50m pistol event with World Cup final bronze medallist Amanpreet Singh taking silver and Jitu Rai fetching his second bronze of the competition. Mittal added more glitter to his best-ever international year with the double trap gold, while Shreyasi Singh bagged a silver in the women’s double trap event to round off yet another successful day for India at the competition.

India have so far won 15 medals at the ongoing championships. Making a strong comeback in the eight-man final round, Nanjappa won the coveted gold medal with a score of 222.4. It was Jitu, who topped the qualification round of the 50m pistol with a 559, while Amanpreet qualified third with 543 and Nanjappa in fourth with 542.

Nanjappa, in fact, was in fifth place after the first five-shot series but after the second series, it was clear that the race was going to be among the three Indians. The lead fluctuated for most parts between Jitu and Amanpreet, but Nanjappa caught up from the 18th shot, pipped Jitu by 0.2 at the end of the 20th and beat Amanpreet by 0.4, to emerge triumphant.