By Rajinder Pal Devgan
Hangzhou, 28 Sep: It’s wonderful to be in this absolutely fascinating city of Hangzhou. Everything about the City and the facilities provided for the games are first class.
What impresses most is the orderliness around and the well regulated traffic.
It was a long enjoyable drive to the shooting ranges. It took about 30 minutes through 3 long tunnels beautifully lit and a long bridge over the river.
The 25 metres 3 Positions event for women started as soon as I got there. The Indians finished with a gold and a bronze. Sift Kaur Samra broke the world record. She was doing her MBBS when she opted out to take up shooting fulltime, a wise decision.
The 25 metre Pistol event was disappointing for Manu Bhaker, who could not get onto the podium. Anyway, Esha Singh made up with a Silver.
Soon, I was at the Men’s Skeet Final. What a nerve racking final it turned out to be. The Kuwaiti veteran, Abdullah Al Rashidi, could do no wrong and shot 60 out 60 to win the gold. India’s Anant Singh Naruka, who won the Silver, matched him shot for shot, bird for bird till the last few when he missed two birds.
It was a great exhibition of Skeet Shooting by the 50+ Rashidi.
The evening was spent by the poolside to watch the finals of Men and Women of all the strokes plus two Medleys, one individual and the other 4×100 metres mixed relay. All the events were completely dominated by China, Japan and Korea. There was not a single Indian in any final.
So came to an end my first day.
Do look out for this space every day. I will be covering all events till the closing ceremony.
