Sunday, Aug 04, 2002
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Shooting
By Kamesh Srinivasan
The effort, a four-point margin over Bruce Quick of Australia, was the fourth gold for the 26-year-old Jaspal from the ongoing Commonwealth Games. He had won a silver and a bronze as well. Overall, Jaspal took his tally to eight gold, four silver and two bronze medals in the three Commonwealth Games, making him one of the most successful in the quadrennial meet. Charan Singh gave a rousing finish to the competition by grabbing the last gold medal on offer with a 0.3 point margin over Timothy Lowndes of Australia. It was an outstanding effort by the Army man to have kept his spirits up over 130 shots, in trying conditions. India did well to build on its performance at the same venue in the Commonwealth Championship last year, when it won 27 medals including 13 gold and eight silver. The Indian team finished with 14 gold, seven silver and three bronze medals, for an impressive total of 24. The progress made by India in shooting could be gleaned from the fact that the team had managed to pin only four gold, two silver and a bronze medal in the last edition in Kuala Lumpur. In the men's free rifle 3-position event, it was a lot of hard work for Charan, as he battled for over four hours to assert his class. Going into the final two points behind Australian Lowndes, but caught up with a final gallop of 9.8, 10.5, 10.3, 9.8, 9.9, 7.2, 10.0, 10.3, 9.7, 10.0, for a total of 97.5. He had done enough, to afford that bad 7.2 sixth shot. In the qualifying series, he had shot 388 in prone, 382 in standing and 384 in kneeling, for a consistently brilliant fare. For two days Charan had not eaten anything, as that is what the sport demands. Charan Singh can eat what he likes now, and need not exactly wait for the government award of Rs. 10 lakh. This was real hard work, and he deserves all the money. The seasoned A.P. Subbaiah could not battle the gloomy weather, and ended up 12th with a 1137. He had rounds of 385 in prone, 363 in standing and 389 in kneeling. Jaspal, trailing at the end of the precision round, caught up with usual poise in the `duelling' series. He shot 96, 98 and 96 for a 290 in the precision sequence; and followed up with a 98, 97 and 98 in the duelling sequence, winding up with a 50 in the last series to seal victory in style. The Delhi shooter had had to go through the shoot-off in the last two Commonwealth Games to ensure the gold, but this time around, he was in decent form to beat a good field. Jaspal said that the recent hard training was starting to provide good results, though he was quick to say that he was not too happy with the scores. He also felt happy about getting the silver and bronze, for a 100 per cent medal success in six events. Incidentally, Jaspal was whisked away for his fifth dope test after his centrefire pistol event. Mahaveer Singh could not raise himself to the medal status though he fought bravely. He had won the gold with Jaspal in the team event, but not pull his weight in the individual event, especially in the duelling series. The Army lad had rounds of 94, 97, 96, 97, 95 and 91. He finished joint tenth with a 570. Not bad for someone competing in his first Commonwealth Games. There was a shoot-off for the bronze, as Irshad Ali of Pakistan and Daniel Francois van Tonder of South Africa tied at 577. The Pakistani won the tie-break 148 to 140. In the women's sport pistol event, the Indian girls Sushma Rana and Shweta Chaudhary could not leave an impact against strong opposition, though they did well to make the finals. The 16-year-old Shweta finished sixth as she followed a 569 with a 95 in the final; while Jaspal's sister Sushma shot the second best score in the final, but her 99.9 could not elevate her from the eighth position as she had mustered only a 562 in the preliminary phase. There was nothing much to cheer for India in the sport rifle prone event. Expectedly so as both Kuheli Gangulee and Meena Kumari had not done too well in the team event. Meena shot much better with rounds of 98, 95, 95, 96, 97 and 94 for a 575, that put her in the 16th position, while Kuheli was 22nd with a 565, with rounds of 97, 97, 95, 93, 86 and 97. The wind played havoc with the socres, and the two Indian girls capable of a much better fare, had to bite the dust, a rare experience for India in this competition. The results: Men's centre-fire pistol: 1. Jaspal Rana 583; 2. Bruce Quick (579); 3. Irshad Ali (Pak) 577 (148), 10T. Mahaveer Singh 570. Men's Free rifle 3-position: 1. Charan Singh 1251.5 (1154); 2. Timothy Lowndes (Aus) 1251.2 (1156); 3. Samuel Wieland (Aus) 1248.1 (1152); 12. A. P. Subbaiah 1137. Women's sport pistol: 1. Lalita Yauhleuskaya (Aus) 686.8 (587); 2. LInda Ryan (Aus) 682.7 (581); 3. Jocelyn Lees (Nzl) 672.4 (573); 6. Shweta Chaudhary 664 (569); 8. Sushma Raa 663.9 (562). Women's sport rifle prone: 1. Kim Frazer (Aus) 588; 2. Esmari van Reenen (RSA) 588; 3. Juliet Etherington (Nzl) 586; 16. Meena Kumari 575; 22. Kuheli Gangulee 565.
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