India gets first gold; Bindra, Gagan win in air rifle event

India have opened their gold account on the second day of the Commonwealth games today. Shooters Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang have won in the 10m air rifle event in New Delhi. World champion Tejeswani Sawant had won two gold medals in air rifle in the previous edition in Melbourne, and Lajja Goswami will take a shot at glory in the 50m 3 position event later in the day.

In between, Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh will try their luck in 50m free pistol event, while Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed will compete in 25m pitol for women.

Narang is a world record holder - he scored 600 out of 600 during his unparalleled record-winning feat - in air rifle event.

Indian shooting has been on the ascendancy ever since the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, where the team won 24 medals, before bettering the mark four years later in Melbourne, winning a record 27 medals.

The bunch, that overflows with talent, is raring to do one better this time around, but, according to Thomas, it takes years and years of hard work to improve.

"We know that India's best chance of winning maximum number of medals is shooting but the rising expectations are bound to put a lot of pressure on our shooters.

"We won 24 medals in Manchester but it took us four years to make it 27 and it will take a Herculean effort to make it 28 this time," Thomas, who has been at the helm of Indian shooting for the past 17 years, said.

Thomas might be a bit skeptical going into the competition, but he certainly is not low on confidence.

With the likes of Bindra, world champions Sawant and Manavjit Singh, world record holder in double-trap Ronjan Sodhi and the man who has won the maximum number of World Cup medals for the country, Narang, in the line-up, Thomas has, at his disposal, a top-fligt team.

"From five medals - three gold and two silver - in 1994 to 24 in Manchester and then 27 in Melbourne, it's a huge achievement. It's difficult when you look at those numbers but it should not be a big problem, winning more medals than the previous two editions. I'm confident that our shooters will rise to the occasion in front of home crowd," the shooting coach said.