Shooter Abdullah Hel Baki earned Bangladesh their first medal in the 20th Commonwealth Games after he clinched silver in the men’s 10m air-rifle event at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Glasgow, Scotland yesterday.
Former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra of India bagged the gold medal while England’s Daniel Rivers secured bronze. Another Indian shooter, Ravi Kumar, finished fourth, missing out on the podium by a whisker.
Baki shot a total 202.1 points, 3.2 points behind Bindra to grab the silver medal and Bangladesh’s only medal so far in the tournament. Rivers was far behind in third with 182.4 points.
The 24-year old Baki, who carried the Queen’s baton in Bangladesh ahead of the Games, qualified for the finals finishing fifth in the qualifying round with 620 points where Rivers was placed at the top.
Baki appeared a totally different person in the finals and put up a sparkling display in the shoot-off for the battle of the gold medal. After a close battle with the Indian shooter, the lad from Gazipur seemed to have lost his nerve in the last two shots of the shoot-off round against an experienced Bindra.
Another Bangladeshi shooter Rabbi Hasan Munna failed to qualify for the final round as he finished 15th in the qualifiers.
Bangladesh’s Asif Hossian Khan won gold in the same event in the 2002 Games in Manchester, England.
Meanwhile in the women’s 10m air-pistol event on the same day, Armin Asha was the only Bangladeshi to qualify for the final round but she could manage eighth position with 75.9 points. Asha finished sixth in the qualification while Ardina Ferdous was disqualified and ended up at 10th.
In the men’s qualifiers in skeet, Noor Uddin Salim and Iqbal Islam finished 18th and 22th respectively.
On Thursday, Molla Shabira of Bangladesh finished sixth in the Group A of the women’s 48kg event. She lifted 142kg weight.
