Hee wins gold

Commonwealth Shooting meet

Brisbane, Oct 31: Hee Sidhu won her second intertiol gold in two weeks, clinching the women’s 10 metre Air Pistol event at the ongoing Commonwealth Shooting Championship here on Tuesday.

Deepak Kumar took the bronze in the men’s 10m Air Rifle event to make it a profitable start to the championship for India.

Last week, Hee had partnered Jitu Rai to win the gold in the Mixed Team Air Pistol event at the World Cup Fils in New Delhi.

Hee was strong through the day, topping the qualification round with a score of 386, her best in intertiol competition since the 387 she shot at the Asian Championship in New Delhi two years ago.

In the fil, Hee opened up a gap of over two points after the first five shot series itself over her nearest rival and led throughout, iling the title with a perfect 10.9 in the 23rd and penultimate shot.

Ele Galiabovitch of Australia took the silver with a score of 238.2 to Hee’s 240.8 while Kristy Gillman, also from Australia, took the bronze with 213.7. India’s Harveen finished fourth in the fil with a score of 194.1 while the third Indian, Nivetha Paramantham, was the fourth filist to be elimited. She finished fifth with a score of 174.5 in the fil round.

In the men’s 10m Air Rifle, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Gagan rang first shattered the Commonwealth qualification record to top qualification with a score of 626.2.

Two other Indians, Ravi Kumar in second with 625 and Deepak Kumar in fifth with 620.3, qualified for the eight-man fil.

However, Australian teeger Alex Hoberg stole the show in the fil, claiming the gold with a score of 247.6 after the allotted 24 shots. His compatriot Jack Rossiter challenged him till the end to take the silver with 245.5.

The Indians took the next three positions with Deepak Kumar claiming bronze with 224.2. Gagan shot 203 to finish fourth while Ravi finished fifth with a fil round score of 182.2.

In the women’s Skeet, India’s Rashmmi Rathore made the six-woman fil with a qualification round score of 65 out of 75. She eventually finished sixth. Two other Indians, Maheshwari Chauhan and Sania Sheikh, shot 64 and 62 respectively to miss out on a shot at the medals. IANS