Sweep for shooters

Guwahati, February 13 

The Indian juggernaut rolled on unabated as the shooters grabbed all the six gold medals on offer today while the triathletes joined the party by winning both the gold medals at the 12th South Asian Games here.

In the ring, star boxers Devendro Singh and Shiva Thapa bludgeoned their way to convincing wins over Bhutan’s Tashi Wangdi and Nepal’s Shrestha Dinesh, respectively. Vikas Krishnan also tasted success on the first day of the event.

The shooting team took its tally to 18 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze medals. Omkar Singh (men’s 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (women’s 25m pistol) and Anjum Moudgil (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions) grabbed a gold each, while India also bagged the top spot in all the three team events.

The day also saw Olympics-bound Gurpreet Singh coming up with a disappointing performance in the men’s 10m air pistol as he finished sixth. Omkar shot 198.8 to win the gold. Pakistan’s Kaleemullah won the silver while Jitendra Vibhute bagged the bronze. Omkar, Gurpreet and Vibhute then took the team gold. 

In the women’s 25m pistol final, Sarnobat won the gold-medal match against compatriot Annuraj Singh 8-2, while Anisa Sayyed took the bronze by prevailing over Pakistan’s Farhat Nasreen. Sarnobat, Sayyed and Annuraj took the the team gold. 

There was a tough fight for the gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions between Moudgil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy. Moudgil grabbed the top spot with a total score of 452.2. Koshy was second with 451.9 while Lajja Goswami, took the bronze. Moudgil, Koshy and Goswami then shot down the team gold.

The Indian men’s and women’s football teams qualified for the finals after comprehensive wins over their counterparts from Bangladesh. While the men won 3-0, the women thrashed their opponents 5-1.

In the triathlon event, Dilip Kumar won the gold medal in the individual men’s event while Pallavi Retiwala took the yellow metal in women’s individual event. — PTI