Mixed results came through for the Indian shooters at the Barry Buddon shooting range in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Friday where Abhinav Bindra and Malaika Goel bagged gold and silver respectively with Heena Sidhu, Ravi Kumar and Anita Singh Rao failing to make a podium finish.
Bindra, India's only individual Olympic gold winner, added another feather to his cap by shooting an aggregate of 205.3 to clinch gold in the 10m pistol event.
Bindra, who addressed the press after the event, said: "It was a good fight. I got the result I desired. This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWG and nine medals, it is enough for me."
Asked about his future plans, Bindra, in a good mood after his triumph, said with a smile: "Journalism is an easy job, I may become a journalist after my shooting career."
"I will take one thing at a time. I will decide later," added Bindra on if the Rio Olympics in 2016 would be his last.
"It was a well-earned medal because I worked hard and I am happy to have achieved the feat. I got the desired result."
Bindra will next be seen at the ISSF World Cup, "I will relax a bit and then prepare for the World Cup."
Army man Ravi Kumar, the other Indian in the pistol event, started at the event on a strong note, keeping pace with Bindra and setting up a 1-2 finish for India. However, as the competition started to heat up with the other shooters bettering each shot, Kumar started to slip down and ultimately finished just outside the medal places in fourth.
In the women's draw, 16-year-old Malaika, the youngest athlete in the Indian contingent, shot her way to a silver with an aggregate of 197.1 in the 10m pistol event while compatriot Heena Sidhu finished a disappointing 7th.
"I hadn't started well in the qualification, I just couldn't settle down and qualified fourth. But because qualifications were poor, I knew I had to do something in the final," Malaika said.
Talking about her silver medal at CWG 2014, Malaika, the teenager admitted to feeling a bit surreal. "London [Olympics in 2012], I just loved watching every sport that was happening -- they were the 'TV athletes'," gushed the young athlete from Punjab.
Anita Singh Rao narrowly missed out on a bronze during a shootout match in the women's skeet competition, with the Indian just failing to hit her mark right at the end.
Meanwhile, Santoshi Matsa won India a bronze in the 53 kg women's weightlifting event to increase the medal tally to 10. India now rank 5th in the competition, with England leading the way with 32 medals.
