Commonwealth Shooting Championships: Heena Sidhu shoots gold, Deepak clinches bronze

New Delhi: Heena Sidhu claimed the 10m air pistol gold, while Deepak Kumar fetched a bronze in the 10m air rifle event to give India a fine start at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Sidhu shot a combined score of 626.2 (386+240.8) to claim top honours. It was her second successive international gold after she and Jitu Rai, claimed the top spot in the 10m air pistol mixed team event in the ISSF World Cup Finals in New Delhi recently.

Kumar took bronze in the 10m air rifle event while London Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang finished fourth ahead of countrymate Ravi Kumar.
Narang shot 626.2 in the qualification to set a 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.

In the final, Sidhu opened up a gap of over two points after the first five shot series and led throughout, nailing the title with a 10.9 in the 23rd and penultimate shot. Elena Galiabovitch (238.2) took silver followed by Kristy Gillman. India’s Harveen Srao finished fourth.