Melbourne: Anuja Jung followed in the footsteps of her husband Samaresh Jung to win the gold in the 50m rifle three position, as the Indian shooters' golden pursuit continued with Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vijay Kumar joining the list at the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

Olympic silver medallist Rathore retained the double trap gold in a thrilling contest though he could not improve upon his own four-year-old Games record of 191. He shot 181 this time.

The other Indian in the fray in this event, Vikram Bhatnagar, had a 133 and failed to qualify for the final which featured the top six from a field of 21. Vikram's series of 44, 43 and 46 wasn't enough for him to progress.

India's tally in shooting went up to 24 — 15 gold, six silver and three bronze — with two more days to go.

The 35-year-old Anuja ensured that the Jungs continued their domination of the shooting ranges when she clinched the 50m rifle three position gold with a total of 670.7. Defending champion Anjali Bhagwat finished fifth with 666.3.

Stunning sequence

South African Esmari Reenen Van (576) was ahead after the preliminary round, with Anuja (574) and Anjali (570) following behind. With her husband watching, Anuja fired a stunning series and had a 96.7 in the final to take her tally to 670.7 (574, 96.7). Esmari could manage only 94.0 and her total of 670 (576, 94) gave her the silver. Malaysian Binti Suryani Nur took the bronze with 668 (576, 92).

``It is a great feeling,'' said Anuja. ``I am happy that I continued for Samaresh on his off day.''

This was Anuja's second medal in the competition after the silver she won with Anjali in the 50m rifle three position pairs event. More importantly, a Jung was on the podium to receive the gold for the sixth day in a row. Samaresh will be gunning for a record sixth gold on Friday.

Favourite event

Rathore was the firm favourite to win the gold in his pet event — the double trap — and the Indian lived up to his reputation. He had 137 in the preliminary round (46, 47, 44) and shot 44/50 in the final to clinch the gold.

South Africa's Byron Swanton took the silver with 180 (134, 46) and William Chetcuti of Malta, with 179 (139, 40), bagged the bronze. Australian favourite Mark Russell was fourth with 178 (134, 44).

``I was confident of winning,'' said a beaming Rathore. ``Though there was some competition in the final, I was focused.''

1-2 for India

In men's 25m rapid fire pistol, Vijay claimed the gold with a new Games record of 778.2 and team-mate Pemba Tamang finished second with 775.0.

Vijay and Tamang had won the gold in the 25m rapid fire pistol pairs event. Vijay, who led the field of 16 shooters with a Games record of 581 (293, 288) in the preliminary round, shot a whopping 197.2 in the final to total 778.2. Tamang was close behind with 580 (289, 291) in the preliminaries and scored 195.0 in the final. His tally of 775 pushed him ahead of Amir Izwan Hasli of Malaysia, who took the bronze with 770.4.

In the women's 10m air pistol event, Harveen Srao came fifth and Sonia Rana did not make it to the finals.

Australian Lalita Yauhleuskaya won the gold, her third in the competition, with a new Games record of 484.8. — UNI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail