Heena wins gold at Commonwealth shooting meet

Brisbane, Oct 31 (IANS) Heena Sidhu won her second international 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, Heena had partnered Jitu Rai to win the gold in the Mixed Team Air Pistol event at the World Cup Finals in New Delhi.

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

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

Elena Galiabovitch of Australia took the silver with a score of 238.2 to Heena's 240.8 while Kristy Gillman, also from Australia, took the bronze with 213.7

India's Harveen finished fourth in the final with a score of 194.1 while the third Indian, Nivetha Paramanantham, was the fourth finalist to be eliminated. She finished fifth with a score of 174.5 in the final round.

In the men's 10m Air Rifle, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Gagan Narang 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 final.

However, Australian teenager Alex Hoberg stole the show in the final, 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 final round score of 182.2.

In the women's Skeet, India's Rashmmi Rathore made the six-woman final 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.