It was Chain Singh’s day out for a second time in as many days at the SAA Complex, Kahilipara, on Friday, as the Indian shooter came through a tense final from a star-studded field to take the individual gold medal in the men’s 10m air rifle.
The 26-year-old, winner of the men’s 50m rifle prone title on Thursday, kept his cool even as he was pushed hard by Md. Sovon Chowdhury (Bangladesh), who cracked during the final two rounds of the 20-shot competition.
All eyes seemed to be on Gagan Narang, again the favourite initially, but the 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist had a wayward final and had to be satisfied with the bronze. This after the 32-year-old had been the top performer in qualification with a tally of 623.2 points ahead of Chain Singh (621.9) and Bangladesh’s Abdullah Baki (621.5).
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In the final, it was Baki who led the initial round with a card of 31.5 and was followed by Imran Hasan Khan, the third Indian entrant, Gagan, Chowdhury and Chain Singh. Chain, however, made good of his shaky start (29.7) in the very next round and stretched his lead in the third and fourth rounds.
Chowdhury, who compiled a total of 617.0 and be placed fifth in the qualification rankings, was to overtake the Indian Army shooter in the fifth after Chain Singh manages only 9.9 and 9.8 in the two shots of that round. But the Indian hung on bravely and finally overtook his Bangladesh rival after Chowdhury wilted away badly with a 9.6 and 9.0 in the eighth round which also saw Gagan (182.0) being thrown out of the competition after fight-back elimination through the earlier two rounds.
Chain Singh who shot 10.7 and 10.3 in the eighth was again very much on mark as he ensured the title with a 10.5 and 10.1 in the final two shots, compared to 9.8 and 10.6 fired by Chowdhury, with a end total of 204.5 points. Chowdhury as he finished second had a total of 203.6.
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The Indian shooter was naturally very excited. “I am very delighted with the gold medal. But I am disappointed with my score as I feel that I could have shot much better. The focus obviously from now on will be at the Olympic Games and my aim is to win a medal for the country in Rio,” Chain Singh said.
The results: Men: 10m air rifle: 1. Chain Singh (Ind), 621.9, 204.6, 3. Md. Sovon Chowdhury (Ban), 617.0, 203.6, 3. Gagan Narang (Ind), 623.2, 182.0. Team: 1. India, 1863.4, 2. Bangladesh, 1845.8, 3. Sri Lanka, 1627.2
25m standard pistol: 1. Neeraj Kumar (Ind), 569, 2. Gurpreet Singh (Ind), 566, 3. Mahender Singh (Ind), 563. Team: 1. India, 1698, 2. Pakistan, 1663, 3. Sri Lanka, 1603.