Indian shooters continue dream run

Indian shooters continued to call the shots at the Commonwealth Games as they clinched one gold medal, a silver and bronze on Sunday.

Harpreet Singh won the yellow metal in 25-metre centrefire pistol singles at the Karni Singh Range.

In a one-two finish for the hosts, Harpreet and Vijay Kumar clinched the gold and silver medals respectively in the 25-metre range, thus continuing their medal-winning spree in the Games.

Manavijit Singh Sandhu then capped off the day by winning a bronze in men's singles trap, finishing ahead of Australia's Adam Vella in the tie-shoot.

England's Aaron Heading (147) won the gold, while two-time Olympic champion and master trap shooter Michael Diamond (146) bagged the silver.

There was, however, disappointment for women shooters Suma Shirur and Kavitha Yadav as they failed to finish among the top three in 10m air rifle singles. They had won bronze in the pairs event on Saturday.

Harpreet shot 580 (288 in precision and 292 in rapid stage) to clinch his second gold of the Games, the first coming in the pairs event in which he partnered Vijay. Vijay bagged the silver after prevailing in a shoot-off in which four shooters -- Australia's Michelangelo Giustiniano, England's Michael Gault, Singapore's Meng Lip Poh and Vijay were tied for second spot at 574 points.

Vijay scored 49 out of a possible 50 in the shoot-off, just one point better than bronze medallist Poh.

Shirur scored 495.4 while Yadav totalled 495.1, to finish behind gold medallist Jasmine Wei Xiang Ser of Singapore (501.7). Malaysia's Ayuni Nur Halim bagged the bronze after scoring 497.5 while Nur Suryani (496.9) had to be content with a bronze.

Jasmine, in the process, bettered the previous Games record of 500.8 held by India's Anjali Bhahwat. The Indian had achieved the feat during the Manchester Games in 2002.

Earlier in the day, there was some confusion over who had scored more in shoot-off in the 25-metre range. Giustiniano, using a reserve gun after a malfunction to his main gun and who had limited rounds left with him, didn't do the sighting (five trial shots) to save his pellets for the final round and, as a result, his final scores didn't appear on the electronic scorecard.

In such a scenario, the defaulter often ends up hitting the wrong target -- the shooter standing next to him who can both benefit or suffer.

Poh, who was standing next to Giustiniano, protested after Vijay was awarded the silver, a range official was heard saying. The Singaporean's claim was that he had shot a perfect 50 - 10 in all-round -- but that was overturned by the jury.

"There is a method, actually a trajectory, through which it can be found out which shot goes straight and which comes from an angle," said India's national coach Sunny Thomas.

"This is very, very rare," said Thomas, referring to the confusion.

Giustiniano, who had won gold in Victoria and Kuala Lumpur Games in 1994 and 1998, respectively, is officially the most experienced shooter in the the Australian contingent.

"I feel it's unbelievable and unfortunate. But I think something was wrong in my mind that failed me today," an upset Giustiniano said.

Indian shooters now lead the table with 13 gold, eight silver and 3 bronze.

England are close second with four gold and equal number of silver and bronze. Australia have three gold, two gold and two bronze.