Indians dominate SAG shooting

Star shooter Gagan Narang added the one international multi-sport medal missing from his cabinet as Indians went on to sweep all five golds on offer on the second day of the shooting competition at the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) here on Thursday.

Gagan struck gold along with Chain Singh and Surendra Singh Rathod in the team event of the men's 50m Rifle. But the Olympic medallist was upstaged by Chain Singh in the individual competition of the same event and had to settle for silver. Chain shot 204.6 points to Gagan's 203.7 in the final while Umar Siddique of Pakistan shot 182.2 to take the bronze.

In the 50m Rifle Prone team event, Chain, Gagan and Rathod shot a combined total of 1871.5 to win gold. Pakistan got the silver with a team total of 1838.2 while Sri lanka landed the bronze with 1825.7.

The third gold for India came through old warhorse Samaresh Jung who shot 580 in the men's Centre Fire Pistol to edge out another Indian veteran Pemba Tamang who scored 579. Olympic silver medalist Vijay Kumar made it a clean sweep for India by bagging the bronze with a score of 577.

In the final event of the day, the women's 50m Rifle Prone, the Indian team comprising Kuheli Gangulee, Lajja Gauswami and Anuja Jung shot a combined score of 1835.6 to win the gold ahead of Pakistan who managed a total of 1805.4. Sri Lanka took the bronze with a score of 1801.8.

Kuheli won the fifth gold of the day for India when she triumphed in the individual competition of the women's 50m Rifle Prone. She shot 619.9 to lead yet another clean sweep for India with Lajja bagging silver with 608.2 and Anuja the bronze with a score of 607.5.

With this performance, India's medals tally from shooting has gone up to 17 with eight gold, six silver and three bronze medals in their kitty.