Shreyasi Singh won a creditable silver medal behind England’s Charlotte Kerwood in the women’s double trap event in the shooting competitions of the 20th Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
The 22-year-old finished the four-round sequence with a total of 92, just two short of Kerwood who celebrated the return of the event to the Games by winning a fourth gold medal. The 27-year-old from Sussex had earlier won the event twice — in Manchester (2002) and Melbourne (2006) — besides winning the pairs title in the same event in Australia.
She returned scores of 26, 25, 24 and 19 through the four rounds, while the New Delhi-born Shreyasi returned a card of 22, 25, 23 and 23.
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Rachel Parish (England) won bronze with 91 points.
Asab wins bronze
India’s second medal of the day came through Mohammed Asab who was a trifle unlucky to finish with the bronze in men’s double trap.
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The 26-year-old from Varanasi had led the field after the preliminaries with a score of 136, four points clear of teammate Ankur Mittal and the English duo of Steven Scott and Matthew French.
In the semifinal, too, Asab was very much in contention for a place in the final before he lost out in a shoot-off.
He, along with two English shooters, finished with an identical score of 27, but the Indian was relegated to the bronze medal match against Nathan Xuereb (Malta) for being able to shoot down only one of the two pigeons.
Asab finished with a card of 26 against Xuereb’s 24 off 30 shots and finished with the bronze, while Scott got the better of French 30-29 to secure the gold medal narrowly.
Mittal finished overall fifth with a score of 25 in the semifinals.
PTI adds:
Shreyasi could not win a medal in the last Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
“I could not win a medal in Delhi (trap singles). I won one here though it is a silver. I am very delighted,” she told PTI after winning the silver.
“But I could have been in for a gold medal shoot-off had I not missed target twice in the final round. The first round was just not that good but in the final round I could have done better and would have been in a gold medal shoot-off,” she said with her mother by her side.
“This is my second CWG and it’s my first medal and it’s been a fantastic experience. I’ve been glad to be a part of it. I missed two double shots and that’s the reason I missed out on the gold medal, but I guess that’s what shooting is all about. The best shooters perform under pressure and this is what I have to learn.
“I was feeling confident and assured that my mother is also here.”
Shreyasi’s grandfather Hari Shri, as well as her father, Digvijay Singh, have been presidents of National Rifle Association of India, and taking up shooting at the young age of 16, in 2008, was a natural progression for her.
Shreyasi is happy that she had chosen the right career.
“I have completed my graduation and I am in shooting full time. I have the support of my family. I want to dedicate this silver to my coaches, colleagues and friends who have helped me in reaching here. I will go for gold next time,” she said.
Shreyasi said she does meditation and yoga to focus, so essential for the sport of shooting.
Asked about the closely-fought finals, she said, “It was a very intense experience. We were a small group (of four shooters) and all close to each other, and one single round could have made all the difference.”