Discus thrower breaks India's 52-year gold jinx in athletics
Poonia leads India's medal sweep as shooters disappoint
New Delhi: India created history by breaking the 52-year-old Commonwealth Games jinx in athletics with Krishna Poonia winning the gold in women's discus throw.
She also became the first woman from the country to win a Commonwealth Games gold in track and field here Monday.
India swept the event with Harwant Kaur and national record holder Seema Antil also winning the silver and bronze respectively.
Poonia's gold, which she won by throwing the discus to 61.51 metres, was the first gold after "Flying Sikh" Milkha Singh's 440-yard race gold in the 1958 edition of the Games in Cardiff, Wales.
Harwant came up with an effort of 60.61 metres, a tad below her season's best of 60.66 metres, while national record holder Seema Antil threw the discus to a distance of 58.46 metres.
Bronze medal
It was otherwise a disappointing day for India at the Commonwealth Games yesterday as shooters Tejaswini Sawant and Meena Kumari missed the gold by one point in the 50-metre rifle prone women's event and the men's skeet team finished fifth.
Tejaswini and Meena won the bronze.
The gold went to Scotland's Jen McIntosh (591) and Kay Copland (578) while English girls Michelle Smith (590) and Sharon Lee (579) got the silver. Both England and Scotland were tied on 1,169 points, but England won the gold on the basis of 60 perfect 10s while Scotland had 52 perfect 10s.
Tejaswini, a world champion in 50 metres prone, shot 583 while Meena had a total of 585 as India finished with 1,168 points. India's Mairaj Ahmad Khan (94) and Allan Daniel People (92) finished fifth in the skeet pairs with a score of 186. McIntosh said strong wind at the Karni Singh Shooting Range made the competition difficult.
"They were pretty tough. It wasn't easy out there today. The wind was up and it was quite strong and was flicking about a wee bit. We shoot at a reasonably sheltered range back home and so it was a bit of struggle," said McIntosh. In the men's skeet pair event, the gold went to Cyprus with Georgios Achilleos (100) and Andreas Chasikos (94) equalling the Games record of 194. The record was also set by Achilleos and his compatriot Antonis Nikolaides at the Manchester Games in 2002.
Canada's Jason Hughes Caswell (97) and Richard McBride (94) won the silver with a total score of 191 and England's Richard Brikwell (96) and Clive Bramley (95) got the bronze also with a score of 191.
