Shooting: Bronze for NZ pair

Kathryn Mead of New Zealand gathers her thoughts before continuing her shoot during the Women's 50m Rifle Prone Pairs. Robert Cianflone / Getty Images

Juliet Etherington and Kathryn Mead were a mixture of relief and disappointment after winning the first Commonwealth Games shooting medal for New Zealand in Melbourne today.

The Auckland 50m prone rifle pair picked up bronze but admit it could have been better.

They tied for second with England but missed silver on a countback while Scottish winners Susan Jackson and Sheena Sharp were just five points better.

Etherington, who won bronze in the individual event at Manchester four years ago, said her first reaction was pleasure that the New Zealand shooting team had broken their medal duck midway through the second day's competition.

Government sports funding agency Sparc has predicted 12 shooting medals at these Games, something which had played on the minds of many in the team.

"Expectations are fairly high, as everyone's aware. If you get a medal, it's a medal and it's one of the 12 we're meant to get, "Etherington said.

"There was big pressure before we started. It's a medal and it's fantastic and it was hard work."

However, she couldn't hide her disappointment at not finishing higher.

New Zealand led narrowly through the first four of six series but Mead, who had been shooting 98s and 99s out of 100, closed with a 93 and 94.

"That's a shame. The time pressure got to her, she had a lot of shots to shoot in a small amount of time and she had to take her chances," Etherington said.

"We know that we are capable of shooting better and we have. I suppose disappointment is a little bit there in that I know I'm capable of more."

Etherington produced the fourth-best individual score of 581 and Mead managed 580.

Yet shortly before leaving for Melbourne they recorded scores of 596 and 594 respectively.

"So we knew if we were really on form and the conditions were there to suit us, we are capable of much much better scores than that."

They struggled with the variable crosswinds at the Melbourne International Shooting Club and were hoping for calmer conditions in the individual competition on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, pistol shooter Wang Yang struggled badly in his New Zealand debut as he and Greg Yelavich finished seventh in the men's 10m air pistol pairs.

They were tied for second after Yelavich shot the opening session before former Chinese junior record-holder Wang stepped up for his first competition wearing New Zealand colours.

He was granted citizenship less than a month ago and was a late inclusion in the New Zealand team.

However, Wang struggled from the outset, several times raising his pistol and lowering it without shooting as he sought an inner calm.

"That was my first time representing New Zealand so I really really wanted to win," he said.

"I think I put too much pressure on myself. When I was shooting I was thinking about a gold medal but I forgot my shooting."

Games veteran Yelavich shot 569 and Wang 562, well short of his 584 personal best, which would have put New Zealand one point shy of the gold medal today.

India's Samaresh Jung and Vivek Singh won with a 1154 total while New Zealand's 1131 was 13 points off bronze.

Levin father and son combination Grant and Ryan Taylor finished sixth in the men's 50m rifle prone pairs.

If there was any family one-upmanship at stake, nothing would have been resolved today as both shot 586 for a 1172 total out of a possible 1200.

The pair were in contention for bronze in the latter stages but a disappointing 94 from Ryan Taylor in his sixth and final series was hurtful. A 99 or 100 would have given them bronze, a score the young shooter had achieved in two of his previous five rounds.

English pair Mike Babb and Chris Hector won gold, 10 points clear of the New Zealanders.

Watching on was West Indies cricket great Viv Richards, who saw the Antigua and Barbuda pair of Ivan Ambrose and Stephans Winter place 17th.

Men's 25m pistol pairs Alan Earle and Jason Wakeling were to compete for New Zealand later this afternoon.

- NZPA