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Khan on target for Bangladesh
Bangladesh claimed their first medal of these Commonwealth Games when 15-year-old Asif Hossain Khan struck gold in the shooting.
Khan also set a new Commonwealth Games record as he held his nerve to beat hot favourite Abhinav Bindra in the men's 10-metre air rifle individual singles final. Timothy Lowndes of Australia took the bronze medal. Bindra recorded a score of 9.1 with his final shot, but Khan had a 9.9 to finish with 691.9 and beat the former record of 690, set by England's 1998 Commonwealth champion Chris Hector. "I'm very happy and excited by this result," said Khan. "I felt a lot of pressure - too much - because this is my first ever international games.
"The others are all world-class shooters and I'm just beginning. "I just thought I'd try hard on the final shot and make it a perfect, perfect shot." Team manager Akram Ali added: "I'm very proud of him. "I just talked with our secretary general and everyone at home is very delighted." In the men's 10m air pistol, England's Mick Gault won his seventh Commonwealth gold medal in dramatic circumstances. He was trailing in fourth place after 67 of the 70 shots but showed nerves of steel to move to joint third with two shots to go. He was second with one remaining shot before he won gold with his last effort as just 0.3 points separated the three medallists. Gault won with a total of 675, India's Samaresh Jung was second with 674.8 and his countryman Jaspal Rana took bronze with 674.7. India have now won eight shooting golds, four silvers and three bronze medals. Gault kept an enthusiastic crowd on tenterhooks with a nerve-tingling penultimate shot.
The other seven finalists had all fired when Gault raised his pistol for the third time, pulled the trigger and fired a 10.8 - just a fraction away from a perfect 10.9 score. Gault, a 48-year-old civil servant from Norfolk, was overcome with emotion and exhaustion. "Brilliant, fantastic. I'm totally wiped out. I gave it 100%," he said. "I didn't know what the scores were and just tried to keep my focus. I had a bit of luck with the 10.8. I just had to see it and squeeze. "I cannot put my feelings into words. I just broke down and I've never done that before. This is the best of all my wins. "But I won't be celebrating it tonight. I am shooting again tomorrow." In the men's trap singles final Michael Diamond took the gold as Australia filled the first two places. Diamond scored 124 points, with Adam Vella taking silver with a score of 121 and Wales' Michael Wixey finishing third, a point further back. |
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