Shooters hog limelight, men paddlers get slice of history

Melbourne, Mar 20 (UNI) It turned out to be a magnificient Monday for India with the sharpshooters striking three gold and a silver while the men paddlers creating history by claiming country's first Commonwealtgh Games gold in the 18th edition of the sporting extravaganza here today.

India occupy the third position in the tally with 23 medals -- 12 gold, eight silver and three bronze. Australia top the chart with 112 medals (42+38+32), while England come a distant second with 54 medals (18+21+15).

Indian shooters figured in four of the five events this morning and won in all except in the men's skeet pairs.

In the process, Samresh Jung became the only shooter in this competition to have won three golds and a silver so far.

It all began with Tejaswini Sawant (500.6) pipping compatriot Avneet Kaur Sidhu (500.2) fore the gold.

Meanwhile, Gagan Narang (1143) and Abhinav Bindra(1144), in the men's 50m rifle three position pairs, won their second gold of the competition totalling 2287.

Samresh Jung (577) and Jaspal Rana (573) shot down 25m Centre Fire Pistol pairs gold.

Tejaswini and Avneet equalled the Games record of 398 while qualifying for the finals of the event and eight shooters in the field of 28 made the cut.

However, in men's skeet pairs, Indian duo of Amit Sanghi and Baba Prithviraj Singh Bedi finished eighth in the field of 12 pairs.

Lifters, meanwhile, continue to chip in and it was again a Manipuri who climbed the podium.

Laishram Monika Devi produced her career best performance to earn a silver in women's 69 kg category while even though Manchester Games gold medallist Satheesha Rai finished a disappointing fourth in the men's 85 kg category.

Monika, the 26-year-old policewoman from Manipur, lifted 222 kg for the silver this afternoon.

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