BRISBANE, April 8: Manu Bhaker was in a league of her own as she shattered two records en route to adding the Commonwealth Games gold medal to the glowing list of achievements in her relatively nascent career, while compatriot Heena Sidhu bagged silver in the 10m air pistol event here today.
The 16-year-old Bhaker�s calm demeanour belied her age as she shot a CWG finals record 240.9 to finish well ahead of her senior teammate Sidhu, who staged a stirring comeback to aggregate 234 at the Belmont Shooting Centre.
In the end, Bhaker finished a whopping 6.9 points ahead of Sidhu.
Appearing in his maiden Commonwealth Games like Bhaker, Ravi Kumar (224.1) claimed the bronze medal in men�s 10m air rifle event after surviving a shoot-off, while Saniya Sheikh had to be contend with a fourth-place finish in the women�s skeet finals with 32.
Deepak Kumar finished sixth in the 10m air rifle, while Maheshwari Chauhan could not make the skeet final.
A dominant Bhaker led throughout the two stages in her maiden Commonwealth Games outing. The previous qualification record was 386 by Dina Aspandiyarova of Australia.
The bronze medal went to Australia�s Elena Galiabovitch who ended with 214.9.
Bhaker was the overwhelming favourite to win the event, having bagged multiple gold medals at the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico and the subsequent Junior World Cup in Sydney.
The event in Mexico was also a maiden appearance for the young girl from Jhajjar district in Haryana.
Sidhu too did well to win silver after she was on the verge of elimination at one stage. She had also won a silver at the Delhi Games in 2010. � PTI
