India’s Chain Singh emerged as the “Golden Boy” of the 12th South Asian Games as he picked up his sixth gold by winning the Men’s 50m Rifle Three Positions on Sunday.
Chain won individual and team gold medals in all the three rifle events he took part in. He had earlier won individual and team gold in 50m Rifle Prone and 10m Air Rifle. In total he won six gold medals at the Games.
The 26-year-old upset his seasoned teammate Gagan Narang for a third time in the Games as he claimed his third individual gold by winning the Men’s 50m Rifle Three Positions.
Chain shot the highest qualification score of 1170 and then led the finals all through. He established a lead of 8.2 points over Narang by the end of kneeling position and maintained it at the end of prone round, though the gap was reduced to 5.8 points.
He had a few poor shots in standing position, including a shot of 8.7, but his earlier lead was good enough to eventually clinch the gold with a score of 453.0.
The Indian trio of Chain, Narang and Surendra Singh Rathod bagged the gold in the team event with a total score of 3490, while Sri Lanka (3431) and Bangladesh (3398) took the silver and bronze respectively.
Chain said the performance here at the SAG will boost his confidence in the run-up to Rio Olympics.
“I still need to improve upon the scores if I have to do well in the tough top level competitions ahead of the Olympics. But these three individual gold in the South Asian Games will surely boost my confidence going ahead,” Chain said after winning the gold.
Narang who shot the second highest qualification score of 1167, came back strongly after a shaky start in the finals to win the silver with a score of 450.3.
This was Narang’s sixth medal of the Games which includes a silver in 50m Rifle Prone and a Bronze in 10m Air Rifle along with three team gold medals.
@indianshooting chain was the golden boy probably the best athlete at the games with 6 golds
ÔÇö GAGAN NARANG (@gaGunNarang) February 14, 2016
Sri Lanka’s S.M.M. Samarkoon settled for the bronze with 430.9.
The third Indian in the event, Surendra Singh Rathod shot 1153 to qualify for the finals but was eliminated in the seventh position.
India won the team gold with a score of 3490, silver was won by Sri Lanka (3431) while Bangladesh (3398) took the bronze.
After today’s clean sweep, India’s medal tally in shooting rose to 21 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze. Bangladesh are at a distance second with 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.
The Results:
Men’s 50m Rifle Three Positions: 1. Chain Singh (453.3) 1170, 2. Gagan Narang 450.3 (1167), 3. S.M.M. Samarkoon (SL) 430.9. Team: 1. India 3490, 2. Sri Lanka 3431, 3. Bangladesh 3398.