Commonwealth Games debutant Mehuli Ghosh came agonisingly close to winning gold as she failed to beat Singapore’s Martina Lindsay Veloso in a shoot-off in the women’s 10m Air Rifle finals. Ghosh, 17, forced a shoot-off with a stunning 10.9 in her last shot to cut Veloso’s 0.5 lead.
Eventually, the Singaporean came out on top with a 10.3 shot in reply to Ghosh’s dissapointing 9.9. Earlier in the elimination stage, defending gold-medallist Apurvi Chandela’s run came to an end after she shot a series of nine-plus pointers. She, however, took home the bronze.
Chandela gave a tough fight to Veloso till shots 18-20 and was tied on 206. But she shot below 10 for the first time in the competition, allowing Ghosh to claim the second spot.
Earlier today, Indian shooters Jitu Rai and Om Mitharval claimed gold and bronze in the men’s 10m Air Pistol. Rai claimed India’s eight medal at the 21st Commonwealth Games after he broke the Games record with a score of 235.1. His compatriot Mitharval also broke the qualification games record earlier.
In the finals, Jitu started on a strong note and led with 100.4 at the end of stage 1, while Mitharval was third with 98.1. In stage 2 elimination, Rai started with 10.3 and 10.3 to lead the pecking order, even as his compatriot moved up and displaced Bell at second place with two 10.1s. Rai continued to surge ahead with a 10.2 but an 8.4 disturbed his momentum somewhat, as the next shot fetched him 9.2. Meanwhile, Mitharval closed the gap as Rai had just 8.8 in the 18th shot to Mitharval’s 10.0.