Apurvi wins gold, Ayonika silver in 10m air rile

India's Apurvi Chandila beat her compatriot and World No.8 Ayonika Paul in an exciting battle to clinch the gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle finals of the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the Barry Buddon Shooting Range here Saturday.

For Apurvi, the gold was her maiden international medal while Ayonika clinched her second international medal, having won the World Cup bronze last month in Slovenia.

The two medals came shortly after Prakash Nanjappa won the silver in the men's 10m air pistol event.

World No.17 Apurvi, who topped the qualifications with 415.6 points, led in the finals right from the start and shot 206.7 points to give India a second gold medal in shooting.

The 21-year-old Ayonika was fourth in the qualification round with a score of 413.2 points and clinched the silver with a score of 204.9 in the final round.

Both Apurvi, 21, and Ayonika were engaged in an interesting duel for the gold medal after Malaysia's Nur Sayani Mohamed Tayabi settled for the bronze medal with a final score of 184.4. Nur Sayani, who also won the bronze in the 2010 Games, was in the news during the 2012 London Olympics where she took part while she was eight months pregnant.

Going into the final shot, Apurvi was always in the lead and she held her nerve against the higher ranked Ayonika to clinch the gold, which was also India's second in shooting. Abhinav Bindra had won the gold Friday in the men's 10m air rifle event.

Sinaporean Jasmine Ser, who was the defending champion, finished fourth with a final score of 163.2. Her compatriot and World No.5 Martina Lindsay Veloso, who was the highest ranked shooter in the competition, finished fifth with a final score of 143.4.