India dominate Day Two

On a day when India won four gold medals at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships,the simmering tension between...

On a day when India won four gold medals at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships,the simmering tension between the shooters and the sports ministry over unpaid cash incentives came out in the open.

The bone of contention is the ministrys decision to deny rifle and pistol shooters incentives on winning medals at Asian Air Gun Championships,while it continues to disburse money to trap and skeet shooters who win at Asian events.

Gagan Narang,who beat Chinas Qinan Zhu the world No 1 to clinch the 10m air rifle gold at Asian Air Gun shooting Championships in Doha in 2009,said it was unfair. Narang,fresh after collecting his second gold in two days in New Delhi,said: Cash incentives are a form of motivation for us and should be given in time. We get cash awards one and a half years later. The 27-year-old collected an individual gold in 10m air rifle on Saturday.

The ministry had stopped cash awards for winning medals at World Cups and the Asian events for its lack of competitiveness.

I get warm handshakes,not money for World Cup medals, Narang added.

The logic is absurd. The worlds top shooters compete in these events. For many shooters who havent got sponsors,these cash incentives are the only way forward. We have to sort this thing out with the ministry, another rifle shooter said.

India coach Sunny Thomas added that some of the shooters had spoken to the ministry directly.

Story continues below this ad

Out on the range though,the shooters rounded off another great day for India by winning four gold,two silver and a bronze medal.

Narang,who won the 10m air rifle pairs gold on Friday,finished on top in the individual event with a score of 699.5. Team mate Sanjeev Rajput settled for silver with 694.8,while Englands James Huckle took bronze with a score of 694.

Weak link no more

Mohammad Asab and Vikram Bhatnagar got India the second gold of the day in the double trap pairs event considered the weakest event for the hosts,with Ronjon Sodhi missing. But the duos combined score of 187 was enough for them to seal the top spot ahead of Australias Russel Mark and Nicholas Kirley,who had 183. Englands Steven Scott and James Sole got bronze with 177.

This was Asabs first big medal in a senior event. People werent expecting a good result from me,but I was confident of doing well here. I am happy for my first gold medal, the 21-year-old said.

Story continues below this ad

Anisa Sayyed and Annuraj Singh also joined the medal rush. Sayyed,who had clinched the 25m pistol pairs gold for women on Friday,took the individual gold with a score of 776.5. Singh,her partner,bagged the silver with 774.6 points,while Australias Linda Ryan took bronze with a score of 772.8.

Amanpreet Singh bettered the meet record set by Jaspal Rana on his way to winning the 50m pistol individual event with a score of 657.4. Michael Gault of England finished second with 645.2 points,while Viraj Singh took bronze with 631 points.