Indian shooter Om Mitharval bagged bronze medal in men’s 50m pistol category on Day 7 of Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The 22-year-old from Rajasthan finished third behind Australian Daniel Repacholi and Shakil Ahmed of Bangladesh. However, the defending champion Jitu Rai had a disappointing show as he was the first to get eliminated from the CWG 2018 shooting event finals. The 50m pistol bronze is second Commonwealth Games 2018 medal for Om Mitharval after winning bronze in 10m air pistol. With this India’s medal tally moves to 22 including 11 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze as they successfully remain positioned on the third place of CWG 2018 medal table.
The Day 7 of Commonwealth Games 2018 saw India’s shooting pair Om Mitharval and Jitu Rai book places in the finals of men’s 50m pistol. Om topped the qualification stage while Rai qualified with a sixth position. Jitu Rai fans expected a turnaround from the celebrated shooter in the finals event but the 30-year-old from Lucknow looked off-colour right from the beginning when he shot a lowly 7.2 points. Om also did not have a great start as he shot 7.6 points, nevertheless, he picked up his game to move to top-three rungs of standings.
Jitu Rai with a string of disappointing scorelines was the first shooter to bow out of the event. With the elimination, Jitu could not defend the double gold medals in 10m air pistol and 50m pistol events won in Glasgow 2014. The man won the CWG 2018 gold medal in the former event but failed to replicate his success in the latter category.
Meanwhile, Om Mitharval maintained his consistency, even at one point was closing the gap with leaderboard Daniel Repacholi of Australia. But great high points from Repacholi and Bangladeshi Shakil Ahmed meant Om had to settle for the bronze medal. Om’s bronze medal on the day seven is India’s ninth medal in shooting. Meanwhile Shreyasi Singh and Varsha Varman are competing in Women's Double Trap Finals event for the medal.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 08:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).