Fifteen-year-old shooter Anish Bhanwala became the youngest Indian to win a Commonwealth Games gold on a day when two of the country’s athletes were booted out for breaching the event’s ‘No Needle policy’ here.
Anish, the Haryana wonder kid, shot down a Games record for his gold in the 25m rapid fire pistol event.
“I was fully expecting this medal because I have been doing it in other tournaments. The names keep changing but I get the same results,” said the youngster, who is now worrying about his maths exam when he lands in India.
Race walker K T Irfan and triple jumper V Rakesh Babu were sent home in ignominy after syringes were found in their rooms. Irfan has already completed his event while Rakesh Babu had been pulled out of the final by Indian officials, citing injury.
“When the Commonwealth Games Federation says no tolerance, the Commonwealth Games Federation means no tolerance,” the Commonwealth Games Federation stated in its strongly-worded statement that called Irfan and Babu’s declaration of innocence “evasive and unreliable”.
The country enjoyed its best day so far in the Games, picking up three gold, three silver and four bronze medals. India’s medal tally rose to 42, including 17 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze. India had won 15 gold medals in the 2014 Glasgow Games.
