NEW DELHI, Oct 6 (PTI): India grabbed five gold medals for the second day running, with the formidable shooting squad providing all of them barring one, on the third day of competitions at the Commonwealth Games today.
Shooters continued to hold sway at the Karni Singh range by garnering three gold and as many silver medals with rifle marksman Gagan Narang and pistol experts Anisa Sayyed and Omkar Singh accounting for the yellow metal.
With woman lifter Renu Bala Chanu and grappler Rajender Kumar also contributing to the rush of gold, India�s tally was boosted to ten that ensured the hosts a second spot in the medals rostrum for the second day running behind leaders Australia. It was also the best day for the country medal-wise as four silver and two bronze medals brought the total heist to eleven, four more than yesterday�s haul of 5 gold and two silver medals.
The four silver medals were from Olympic shooting champion Abhinav Bindra, shooter Sornabat Rahi, trap shooters Ronjan Sondhi and Asher Noria and grappler Manoj Kumar while bronze medals were won by wrestler Dharmenra Dalal and para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar.
The total haul of 10 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze medals helped India keep the second place behind Australia, who have taken a big lead with 18-14-9, and comfortably ahead of third-placed England 5-11-8.
It was world champion Narang�s day to capture glory, at the expense of Beijing Olympic champion and teammate Abhinav Bindra, in the men�s 10m individual air rifle event, with a Games record to go with it. Hyderabadi shooter Narang set the tone by firing a perfect 600 to equal his own world record on his way to upsetting Bindra, for his second gold medal of these Games.
He had teamed up with the Chandigarh-based Bindra to clinch the 10m air rifle pairs gold - the first for the country in the Games - yesterday.
Narang performed better in the finals too by scoring 103.6 to Bindra�s 103.0 to settle the fight for the gold with an overall tally of 703.6, a new Games mark. Bindra�s total was 698.
Incidentally Bindra had won the gold in the Beijing Olympics in the same event. Englishman James Huckle settled for the bronze.
Omkar Singh and Anisa Sayyed also garnered gold medals in men�s 50m pistol singles and women�s 25m pistol singles events, tallying 653.6 and 786.8 respectively.
Sarnobat Rahi (781) won the silver in the 225m event to add to the title she won with Anisa in pairs yesterday.
Also attaining second place was the Indian double trap pair of Ronjan Sondhi and Asher Noria. The duo finished one point behind gold medal winners Steven Wolton and Steven Scott (189) of England. Malaysian duo Benjamin Chen Khor and Chye Chen Khor picked up the bronze with 185.
