AUCKLAND: Markswoman Soma Dutta and her partner Bhagirath Samai gave India their first medal finishing third in the pairs ten meters air rifle competition of the fourteenth commonwealth games at Ardmore range here on Jan 25th.
‘The Indian pair finished with 1148 points, seven points behind England’s Christopher hector and Robert Smith, the silver medalists. Canada’s Guy Lorio and Mart Klepp secured gold with a tally of 1163.
Soma, trained by the American coach Anthony Hamett, and her partner Bhagirath were unduly overawed by the occasion in their first round which made them miss the silver by a very small margin. Soma scored 92 and Bhagirath 88,
AS the event progressed, they settled down and shot superbly. In the next five rounds Soma shot her way to an impressive tally of 98, 98, 99, 100 and 99, while Bhagirathi’s record was 92, 97, 93, 97 and 95.
Soma Dutta, 22, had the highest individual score of 586. She was a point ahead of Canada’s guy Lorion.
She said she could have done even better had she not been tense initially, “I am a slow starter but as i warm up I strike my form”, said Soma who is optimistic of claiming a few more medals.
Her American coach, Hamett, said Soma is in Peak form. Bhagirath, ten years senior to her partner Soma, has been taking part in international competitions since 1982 when he finished seventh in .177 in the commonwealth games in Brisbane.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990
