Medal sure shots

Laetisha Scanlan, centre, celebrates her gold medal victory in the women's trap at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Picture: SHOOTING AUSTRALIA

By JARROD POTTER

BOTH battling their way into their respective medal matches, Berwick shooters Laetisha Scanlan and Lalita Yauhleuskaya were able to overcome their troubles to earn Commonwealth Games medals.
Scanlan, 24, from Berwick, earned her second Commonwealth Games gold medal as she overcame a poor qualifying round that almost forced her from the competition at Glasgow’s Barry Buddon Shooting Centre.
She only just scraped through into the finals after a shootout against Indian Shreyasi Singh.
Once past the qualifying hurdle, Scanlan excelled as she shot an amazing 14 out of 15 in the semi-final to book her spot in the gold medal shootout.
With her nerves steadied, she resumed her best shooting in the 15-shot finale to clinch the gold medal 13-12 over Cypriot Georgia Konstantinidou.
Yauhleuskaya, 50, from Berwick, did not have an easy advance through qualifying either and was forced to shoot-off in the semi-finals to make her bronze medal match.
She finished second for the 25-metre pistol qualification rounds with a score of 578, trailing Singapore’s Shun Xie Teo.
She advanced on a shoot-off of her own in the semi-finals to get past Teo – claiming a 1(4) to 1(1) victory to earn her chance to shoot for a bronze medal.
The former Commonwealth Games gold medallist calmly shot past Malaysia’s Alia Sazana Azahari 10-8 to claim the bronze medal in her fourth Commonwealth Games appearance.
Glasgow will forever remain a proud memory for Casey TigerSharks trio Josh Beaver, Matson Lawson and Mitch Pratt with the three swimmers making their mark in the green and gold.
Beaver won a trio of medals in the 200m backstroke (silver), 4×100 medley relay – as he swam in the heats – and 100m backstroke (bronze) while Lawson also earned bronze in the 200m backstroke.
Cranbourne’s Mitch Pratt finished fifth in the 200m butterfly.