CWG Bronze Medallist Ankur Mittal on No Shooting in Next Edition

Shooter Ankur Mittal won a bronze medal in the men’s double trap event at Commonwealth Games 2018.

Shooter Ankur Mittal speaks to the media after returning from the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

(Photo: ANI)

India’s shooter Ankur Mittal won a bronze medal in the men's double trap event at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Wednesday.

Ankur scored 53 points in the final to finish 10 points ahead of compatriot Ashab Mohammed, who was fifth.

After returning to India, Mittal expressed that the shooting event being taken off the next edition of CWG was playing on the shooters’ minds.

Commonwealth Games is not that top a competition for shooting. We are winning medals in World Cups and World Championships. Shooting is going to be removed from the next edition of CWG, so this thing was certainly playing on all the shooters’ minds.  

Ankur Mittal

Mittal said the absence of shooting will have a great impact on India’s medal tally in the next Commonwealth Games.

Out of 66 medals, 16 medals are from shooters; 31 shooters went for the competition and we have come back with 16 medals. It will have a great effect on the medal tally. This competition is a good platform for Indian shooters. There is good prize money. With the prize money, we support are training. The IOA and Sports Ministry should speak to the Commonwealth Games Federation about reinstating shooting in the next Games.

Ankur Mittal

The Indian shooter said that he didn’t give his best performance in the final of the double trap event.

I wasn’t able to give my best performance in the final. I was leading after the first 30 rounds. But then my performance dropped and I had to settle for bronze. I will try my best to win gold in the Asian Games.

Ankur Mittal

In the six-men final, Ankur bagged all the 10 points in the first series of five hits. In the second series, he got eight points, while the third series took his points tally to 28. Ankur continued the good work in the fourth series, earning nine points.

He followed that up with another nine-pointer series as he eliminated Ashab, who totalled 43 points after the five series.

Only three shooters, Ankur, Kneale and MacMath competed in the sixth series in which Ankur had the worst performance, bagging only seven points which took his points tally to 53. At the end of the six series, Kneale had 54 points, while MacMath got 55 points.

In the two-series play-off for the gold medal, Kneale got 17 points, while MacMath got 19 points. Kneale ended up with 70 points to get the silver medal, while MacMath ran away with the gold medal with a meet record total of 74.

(With inputs from IANS)