Teenager Anish hogs the limelight

Crack shot: 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala rattled off a sequence of perfect rounds to claim the 25m rapid fire pistol event with a record score.

Crack shot: 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala rattled off a sequence of perfect rounds to claim the 25m rapid fire pistol event with a record score.  

Tejaswini and Anjum finish 1-2 in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions; Shreyasi disappoints

Fifteen-year-old Anish Bhanwala, who had struggled to get a gun licence to take up the sport, emerged as the youngest-ever Commonwealth Games gold medal winner for India by turning in a terrific performance in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol on Friday.

Tejaswini Sawant and Anjum Moudgil finished 1-2 in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions, while Shreyasi Singh, on the lookout for a second gold, was hardly on target in the trap final.

Anish did not display any nervousness in his first major multi-discipline Games as he gave a good account of his vast potential. The young Haryana shooter, who finished the first stage of qualification with a card of 286, then shot 99, 99, 96 to top the list with a record total of 580. Teammate Neeraj Kumar with a 291 and 288 was second.

In the final, Anish began with successive fives to take the lead and held on to it brilliantly to finish with 30 – another Games record. The Indian and Australia’s Sergei Evgleski were on 25 and 24 going into the final round of the competition before Anish shot a perfect score while Evgleski could only manage a 4 to finish second.

In the women’s 50m rifle 3 position, Anjum created a Games record with a 589 (196-kneeling, 199-prone and 194-standing) in the qualifying while Tejaswini was third with 584 (193, 199, 192).

Tejaswini’s calibre and prowess was never in doubt in the final as she went to the lead straight-away in the company of Anjum. The Maharashtra shooter came through a deserving winner with a Games record total of 457.9, while Anjum took silver with 455.7.

In trap, Shreyasi never found her going smooth, hitting blanks at every turn, and was eliminated fifth with a total of 19. In the men’s event, Kyan Chenai and Manavjit Sandhu were placed sixth and 21st with scores of 46 and 43 after the first day of the two-day competition.

The results:

Men: 25m rapid pistol: 1. Anish Bhanwala, 580, 30; 2. Sergei Evgleski (Aus), 576, 28; 3. Sam Gowin (Eng), 568, 17; 5. Neeraj Kumar, 579, 13.

Women: 50m rifle 3 positions: 1.Tejaswini Sawant, 584, 457.9, 2. Anjum Moudgil, 589, 455.7, 3. Seonaid Mcintosh (Sco),576, 444.6. Trap: 1. Lateisha Scanlan (Aus) 38, 2. Kristy Barr (NIR) 37, 3. Sarah Wixey (Wal) 28; 5. Shreyasi Singh (Ind) 19.