CWG 2018 Shooting: Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela bag silver and bronze in 10 m Air Rifle
Mehuli shot a perfect 10.9 in her final shot to take the eventual winner Martina Veloso into a shoot-off.
India won silver and bronze medals in the 10 metre Air Rifle women’s final as Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela finished second and third respectively.
Chandela had won the gold in Glasgow four years ago and India had a strong track record in the event, only failing to finish 1-2 once in the previous four Games, that lone blip coming in Delhi 2010.
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Defending champion Chandela got off to a good start in qualification, shooting a Games record to finish first among the qualifiers.
In the final, Singapore’s Martina Lindsey Veloso took an early lead after some consistent shooting, posting five scores of 10.5-plus after her first five shots. Chandela had only three scores below 10 in the entire final, but was unable to hit the high 10’s that would make the difference ultimately.
Mehuli steadied herself after a couple of early 9’s, as she was in fourth spot, with two-thirds of the final completed. Down to the last three shooters, Chandela was eliminated after scores of 9.9 and 9.4 undid her in the 21st and 22nd rounds.
With only Ghosh and Veloso remaining, the latter had a 0.5 lead heading into the final shot and managed a 10.4, piling all the pressure onto the 17-year-old Indian. Mehuli came up with a superb maximum effort of 10.9, forcing the final into a deciding shoot-off.
She could not match her final shot in the regulation final round, as a 9.9 was sub-par against a sharp-shooting Veloso, who bagged a 10.3 to win the gold.