Heena Sidhu shatters Commonwealth Games record to win 25m pistol gold

Heena Sidhu was sublime on Tuesday, shooting consistently right through the 10 series of the women’s 25 metre pistol final at the Commonwealth Games 2018 (CWG 2018) in Gold Coast to win the gold medal in style. (CWG live updates)

Heena, who had won silver on Sunday in the 10 metre air pistol event, broke the CWG record in the final with a score of 38. The 28-year-old beat Elena Galiabovitch, the initial leader in the final round. The Australian, who ended with a score of 35, faded in the latter half of the final, even as Heena got into the zone.

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The Indian was trailing behind Galiabovitch till the fifth series of the final. Heena Sidhu did well to close the gap by scoring with all her five shots in the fifth series before another perfect score in the sixth saw her take the joint lead.

The Indian took sole lead after the first shot in the seventh series and subsequently increased the gap.

With a two-point lead at the end of the seventh series, Heena found the target in four of the five shots in the eighth to surge ahead by three points.

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Although the Australian managed to close the gap by one point in the ninth series, Heena held her nerves in the 10th and final series to emerge champion.

ANNU FINISHES SIXTH

Alia Sazana Azahari of Malaysia settled for bronze with a score of 26, while Annu Singh, the other Indian in the fray, finished sixth.

Earlier, in the qualifying round, Annu had finished ahead of Heena Sidhu.

Annu progressed to the final in second spot with a total of 584 points, while Heena was third with 579. Xiu Hong Teh of Singapore topped the standings with 584.

However, when the final began, the seasoned Heena showed her class and surged ahead all the way to gold, becoming the first Indian to win two medals in this edition of the CWG.

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Meanwhile, defending silver-medallist Gagan Narang signed off a disappointing seventh while debutant Chain Singh finished fourth in the 50m rifle prone event at the Belmont Shooting Centre.

Narang, who qualified third for the final with a score of 619.4, went out after the first stage of elimination.