Bindra shoots gold, Narang 4th
New Delhi, September 27
Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra clinched the gold medal while London Games bronze medallist Gagan Narang failed to finish on the podium in the 10m Air Rifle event of the Asian Air Gun Championships. The 32-year-old shooter from Chandigarh shot 208.3 to bag the top prize ahead of Kazakhstan's world No. 8 Yurkov Yuriy (206.6) and Korea's Yu Jaechul (185.3) on the first day of the competition at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
Narang finished fourth with a score of 164.5 while Chain Singh finished seventh after notching up 122.7. Narang started on a good note, shooting 10.6 and 10.6, but fell behind in the following attempts while Singh was out after a shoot-off with Korea's Kim Dajin.
Bindra, however, maintained his consistency and was way ahead of the rest when the finals ended. "A lot of training has gone into it. I am always trying to do the best I can. It may look easy but I can guarantee it's very, very tough," Bindra said after his triumph. “It's always good to win medals. I can't call it a practice, but yes, it's a good preparation for the Rio Olympics because there were medals at stake. When there is a medal involved, we can't call it a practice because there is a varying degree of pressure."
Asked if there’s a rivalry with Narang, Bindra responded in the negative. "There is no rivalry with Gagan, it's only for the media. We are well entertained by our sport," said Bindra.
India's rifle coach Stanislav Lapidus was never in doubt about Bindra's chances in the tournament. "There was no doubt about his performance. I was expecting it, but with Gagan it was different. He is preparing for the future," Lapidus said.
India also won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle team event. Bindra, Narang and Singh shot a total of 1868.6. The Korean team finished second (1859.1) and Saudi Arabia's Mesfer Abound Alammari, Faiz Anazi Ali and Mubarak Mesfer Aldawsari (1824.8) took the third spot. — PTI
