Asiad: Shotgun Sodhi provides golden touch to shooters' show

Nov 21, 2010 |

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Guangzhou: World record holder shotgun shooter Ronjan Sodhi finally provided the golden touch to Indian marksmen's campaign when he won the men's double trap individual event here today.

Sodhi clinched the top honours with a score of 186 after being second behind China's Pan Qiang at the end of the qualification stage today.

The 31-year-old Asian champion, part of the silver winning squad in the same event four years ago at Doha in Qatar, also reeled in the team bronze for India with his stupendous effort at the Guangzhou Shotgun Centre.

Sodhi shot 139 (47, 44 and 48) and was four shots behind China's Qiang going into the finals competed by six men and shot 47 in the final while the host nation shooter flopped with a 38 for an overall tally of 181.

Al Maktoum Shaikh of UAE, who shot 138 in the qualification, also fell behind the Indian when shooting for the gold and could score only 44 for a final tally of 182 that fetched him a silver medal.

In the shoot-off for third place among Hamad Ali Al Marri of Qatar, Fehaid Aldehani of Kuwait and Qiang, the Qatari shooter prevailed to win the bronze with 181.

This was the first gold from the much-heralded shooting squad after they started competing on November 13 and it was also the eighth medal hauled in by the marksmen and women who have so far won one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Sodhi, whose best this year has been 195 that he made in the World Cup in Italy, and is the joint holder of the world record of 196, said the medal round was tension-packed.

"The final was very, very close. In the final, it's a different ball game. People start missing and that happened (today)," he said.

Arjuna awardee (2009) Sodhi, who started shooting eight years ago, said the weather conditions made things difficult for the trap shooters today.

"Double trap in Asia is difficult. It was tough today due to the weather conditions. In the final, people were dropping a lot of targets," added the two-time World Cup champion.

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