Glasgow: India’s first medal from the shooting ranges in the 2014 Commonwealth Games came from 16-year-old Malaika Goel, who shot down a silver in the women’s 10m air pistol event, while her role model and former World No.1 Heena Sidhu ended up a disappointing seventh at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre here Friday.
Malaika Goel after winning Silver at 2014 Commonwealth Games
Both Heena, World No.4, and Malaika were the highest ranked shooters in the competition and expectations were high from them. Heena had won the silver in the 2010 edition in Delhi.
Malaika displayed raw talent and held her nerves to shoot her maiden Commonwealth Games medal. She finished fourth in the qualifying round while Heena faltered badly in the final round with a score of 95.8 and was eliminated after the fourth shot, despite topping the qualification round.
Malaika hails from the industrial town of Ludhiana in Punjab and broke into the top-15 in the world at the age of 16. Her best so far has been World No.13 in May.
Malaika, who is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, picked up the sport in 2008 when the country was celebrating its first individual Olympic medal, thanks to rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra’s exploits in Beijing in the 10m air rifle event. Bindra and Heena are Malaika’s role models.