Celebrated shooter Abdullah Hel Baki brought laurel for Bangladesh by clinching the silver medal in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle of the 21st Commonwealth Games at Belmont Shooting Centre in Gold Coast, Australia on Sunday.
Country’s famed shooter and Olympian Asif Hossain Khan won the first-ever gold medal for Bangladesh in the same event at Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002 and also clinched the gold medal in 2004 SAF Games.
In Bangladesh’s favorite shooting event, Baki awarded the first medal for the country in ongoing 71-nation Commonwealth Games with a brilliant came back in the final shoot-off scoring 244.7 in Brisbane.
Baki, the lone Bangladeshi silver medalist of the last 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, battled for the event’s gold with Dane Sampson of Australia and Ravi Kumar of India till 16th round of the final shoot-off.
Needing 10.1 score in the last shoot-off for the gold, Baki miserably scored 9.7 to settle for the silver.
Australian shooter Dane Sampson won the gold medal with a record scoring 245.0 while Ravi Kumar of India shot 224.1 to settle for a bronze.
Earlier in the qualification round, Bangladeshi ace shooter Baki managed a berth in the eight-man final shoot off as he finished 6th among the 18 competitors scoring 616.0 after Indian Deepak Kumar (627.2), Ravi Kumar (626) and Australian Dane Sampson (623.2).
Another Bangladesh shooter Rabbi Hasan Munna eliminated from the event in qualifying round as finished 14th among the 18 competitors scoring 607.6.
In the women’s 10-meter air pistol, two Bangladesh shooters–Armin Asha and Ardina Ferdous– were also eliminated from qualifications round.
