Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast: Shooter Heena Sidhu wins Gold for India in women's 25m Pistol

Shooter Heena Sidhu notched up a CWG record of 38 points in the final to take the title in style.

Gold Coast: India bagged one more Gold on the Day 6 of the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Australia's Gold Coast after Indian shooter Heena Sidhu won Gold in the women's 25-meter Pistol event on Tuesday. Heena notched up a CWG record of 38 points in the final to take the title in style.

Elena Galiabovitch of Australia scored 35 to take silver while Malaysia's Alia Sazana Azahari got bronze with 26.

This was the 11th gold medal for India in this year's CWG and Heena's first individual gold in three editions of this quadrennial event.

Heena, who has a total of four CWG medals to her name, had bagged silver in the women's 10m air pistol event on Sunday.

She had also won a gold in the women's 10m air pistol pairs and silver in the individual event at the 2010 edition in New Delhi.

The fact that Heena managed to emerge champion on Tuesday despite an injury in her trigger finger, speaks volumes of her determination and makes the victory all the more credible.

Annu Raj Singh, the other Indian in the fray, fizzled out in the final after an excellent performance during qualification, to take the overall sixth place.

Elena was the fastest off the blocks in the final and Heena was trailing behind the Australian till the fifth series. 

Heena did well to close the gap by scoring with all her five shots in the fifth series before another perfect score in the sixth saw her take the joint lead.

The Indian took sole lead after the first shot in the seventh series and subsequently increased the gap.

With a two-point lead at the end of the seventh series, Heena found the target in four of the five shots in the eighth to be ahead by three points.

Although the Australian managed to close the gap by one point in the ninth series, Heena held her nerves in the 10th and final series to emerge champion.

With 11 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze, India are currently third in the overall medals tally. With 41 Gold, Australia continues to dominate the tally followed by England with 23 Gold.

India in other events on Day 6

Badminton 

The Indian mixed doubles duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy thrashed Guernsey's Stuart Hardy and Chloe Le Tissier 2-0 to advance to the round of 32 at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday.

High on confidence after clinching the gold in the mixed team event here on Monday, Ashwini and Satwik needed just 20 minutes to brush past the Guernsey duo 21-9, 21-5 in straight games.

Boxing 

Carrying India's hopes forward, boxer Amit Panghal entered the semi-finals of the men's light flyweight (49-kilogram) category at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast here on Tuesday. Amit defeated Aqeel Ahmed of Scotland 4:1 in the quarter-finals.

Amit has now ensured a medal for India as those in the last fourth stage are assured of a place on the podium.

Para-swimming

Indian para-swimmer Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap managed to enter the final of women's S8 50-meter Freestyle category at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday. Vaishnavi clocked a timing of 41.63 seconds to finish sixth out of seven swimmers in Heat 1 at the Optus Aquatic Centre here.

The Indian was 10.22 seconds adrift of Australia's Lakeisha Patterson, who topped the Heat, registering 31.41 seconds.

Shooting

In shooting events, Indian shooters Chain Singh and Gagan Narang failed to ensure any medals in the men's 50m Rifle Prone event at the 21st Commonwealth Games 2018 in Australia's Gold Coast on Tuesday. Chain finished fourth with a score of 204.8 points in the final round. Gagan was second from bottom in the eight-man final with 142.3.

David Phelps of Wales won the gold medal with a new CWG record of 248.8. Neil Stirton of Scotland took silver with 247.7 while England's Kenneth Parr got the bronze with 226.6. Earlier, Gagan finished the qualifying round in the third position with 617 points.

Chain was in sixth place, having scored a total of 614.2. James Daly of Australia topped the standings in the qualification stage with 620.5 points. Ryan Taylor of New Zealand was second with 619.4.

In the women's category, shooters Annu Singh and Heena Sidhu earlier entered the final of the women's 25-meter Pistol event here on Tuesday. Annu finished the qualification stage at the second spot with a total of 584 points. Heena was third with 579. Xiu Hong Teh of Singapore topped the standings with 584.

Annu had taken pole position at the end of the Precision round with 293. She managed 291 in the Rapid round while Xiu scored 293. Annu registered a series of 96, 99 and 98 in the Precision round. She was consistent in the Rapid round as well as scores of 98, 96 and 97.

Xiu, who was second after the Precision round with 291, registered 96, 100 and 97 in the Rapid stage to snatch the lead. Heena meanwhile, started slowly before climbing up the standings with an awesome show in the Rapid round.

Hockey

India on Tuesday defeated Malaysia 2-1 in a Pool B match of the men's hockey tournament at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Tuesday. Harmanpreet Singh (3rd, 43rd minutes) converted a couple of penalty corner while the experienced Faizal Saari reduced the deficit for Malaysia.

This is India's second consecutive win of their current campaign. They had squandered a 2-0 lead to be held to a last-gasp 2-2 draw by arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match. The Indians then defeated Wales 4-3 in a high scoring encounter. India now have seven points from three matches.

Squash

India's Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa came from behind to beat Pakistan's Zafar Faiza and Zafar Madina 2-1 in squash women's doubles Pool C match at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday. After going down closely 10-11 in the opening game that lasted for nine minutes, the Indian duo bounced back strongly to thrash the Pakistani pair 11-0 in just four minutes. 

Dipika and Joshna then sealed their victory after another 11-1 win in the third game, that lasted for mere five minutes at the Oxenford Studios here. The Indians will next take on Wales' duo of Tesni Evans and Deon Saffery on Wednesday.

(With IANS inputs)