IANS

New Delhi, Feb 20: India's gold count in the Commonwealth Shooting Championship increased with Gagan Narang winning the men's 10 metre air rifle singles event and Navy man Sanjeev Rajput bagging the silver at the Karni Singh Shooting Range here Saturday.

Narang shot a total of 699.5 (595 qualification, 104.5 finals) for the yellow metal and also came close to breaking his own championship record of 699.7 set in Australia in 2005.

Rajput got the silver shooting a total of 694.8 (591 qualification, 103.8 finals) and the bronze went to Englishman Huckle James with an aggregate of 694 (593 qualification, 101 final).

Another Indian P.T. Raghunath, who bagged the gold in the pairs event with Narang, narrowly missed out on a medal as he finished fourth with a total of 693.2 (592 qualification, 101.2 final).

India coach Sunny Thomas was happy with Narang's performance but was disappointed with Raghunath.

"Raghunath could have done better. He came close to win the bronze. He did poorly in the first two shots in the finals and then picked up well to score 101.2. Rajput also performed well in the final. He was fourth after the qualification but then bounced back to finish second," said Thomas.

Narang was elated after winning his second gold in the championship.

"I got 104.5 in the final, but I could have done better. But good to see India finishing 1-2 in a single event," he said.