Commonwealth Shooting Championships: Anish Bhanwala, Neeraj Kumar add to India's medal tally

Gold Coast: India’s Anish Bhanwala won a silver in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event, while Neeraj Kumar bagged a bronze on the sixth day of competitions in the Commonwealth Shooting Championships. The two medals took India’s tally from rifle and pistol events to 16, including four gold. India has also won one gold and a silver in shotgun events. [caption id=“attachment_4195057” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s Anish Bhanwala (L) won the silver while Neeraj Kumar (R) won the bronze at the 25m rapid fire pistol. Australian Sergei Evglevski won gold. Image Courtesy: Facebook page of Jagpal Bhanwala[/caption] India had three representatives in the six-man rapid fire pistol final, with Olympian Gurpreet Singh qualifying along with Anish and Neeraj. Anish topped the qualification with a score of 577, while Neeraj was second with 575. Gurpreet qualified in fifth place with a score of 566. Gurpreet was first to be eliminated in the final, but Anish and Neeraj hung on for the silver and bronze after Australian Sergei Evglevski made the gold medal beyond reach, pulling away from the field after the fourth five-shot series. Neeraj won a fourth-place elimination shoot-off over England’s Sam Gowin to assure himself of a medal. He had to be content with bronze as Anish beat him 21-19 after the sixth series. In the end, Sergei ended with a score of 28 out of 40 to win gold, while Anish was two behind with 26. In the women’s rifle 3 positions, Scotland’s Seonaid Mcintosh won gold with a final round score of 459.9. England’s Katie Gleeson bagged silver and Singapore’s Martina Veloso won bronze. Gaayathri finished fourth, shooting 429.7, and was the best placed among the three Indian finalists. Aditi Singh finished sixth while Tejaswini Sawant, the third Indian in the eight-woman final, finished seventh. In the women’s trap, India’s Shreyasi Singh made it to her second final of the championships but missed out on her second medal by finishing sixth. She shot 11 in the final, after winning a shoot-off with compatriot Seema Tomar during qualification. Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan won gold in the event, while Sharon Niven of Scotland won silver. Rio Olympic silver medallist Natalie Rooney of New Zealand bagged the bronze.