Pistol shooter Nanjappa wins CWG silver

A horrendous shot midway into the final round competition cost India's Prakash Nanjappa a gold as he finished a heart-breaking second in men's 10m Air Pistol to give India their third medal in the shooting event at the Commonwealth Games today.

Nanjappa, who won a bronze in the ISSF World Cup in South Korea last year, was leading at the end of the second series of the elimination stage but he apparently lost concentration and shot a disappointing 7.7 to hand the lead to eventual winner Daniel Repacholi of Australia.

Despite the setback in the sixth shot of the elimination stage, the 38-year-old Banglorean tried his best to catch up with the Australian but failed to do so in the end and had to settle with a silver at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre at Dundee near here.

Repacholi won the gold with a total of 199.5 while Prakash scored 198.2. England's 60-year-old Michel Gault got the bronze.

Nanjappa, who topped the qualification round, was seen ruffled by that mistake and he was taking deep breaths in between the shots. A team member later said Prakash felt time constraint and that was why the grip over his pistol was not proper when he shot 7.7.

Before the last round, Repacholi had taken a lead of 1.4 points but he could only come up with a 9.3 in the penultimate shot and Prakash could have narrowed down the gap. The Indian could not do that as he also shot a 9.3 at a crucial juncture.

Prakash was the first to fire the last shot and he came up with a 10.5, putting pressure on his Australian opponent. But Repacholi fired a 10.4 to run away with the gold.

The other Indian in the fray, Om Prakash had failed to qualify for the final round.

Yesterday, India had won a gold in men's 10m Air Rifle through Abhinav Bindra while Malaika Goel settled for women's 10m Air Pistol. 

In men's skeet event, India's Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Baba Bedi failed to advance to the semifinals after finishing seventh and 19th in the qualification round. The top eight shooters qualify for the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul have qualified for the final round of the men's 10m Air Rifle after finishing first and fourth in the qualification round.

Apurvi shot a Games Record of 415.6 to top the qualification round while Ayonika got an aggregate of 413.2 points.

Nanjappa later said it would have been better if he had won a gold.

"It was satisfactory, obviously it could have been better by winning the gold. It was a good feeling, but I am slightly disappointed, there is always a next time," he said.

Asked about scoring the second maximum 10.9 score of the Games in the final (17th of the 20 shots of the day), Nanjappa said, "I knew I had to focus on my technique as I had a very poor score in the previous shot and I knew I had to improve my score to keep up with the competition."

Asked about his Australian opponent Daniel Repacholi who won gold, he said, "He shot very well, but it was very close through the competition. I tried to focus on my own performance through the final and did not really concentrate on the other competitors."