SCOTLAND shot further up the medals table at the Commonwealth Games as Susan Jackson and Sheena Sharp claimed the women’s 50m rifle prone pairs gold at the Melbourne International Shooting Club, writes Simon Buckland. The pair are an old-fashioned blend of youth and experience with 52-year-old Sharp some 20 years older than her partner. “I got a text message from my granddaughters this morning saying, ‘Go Granny go’ ,” grinned Sharp.

In hot but surprisingly windy conditions, the pair went one better than their compatriots Martin Sinclair and Neil Stirton, who had earlier secured the Scots’ first shooting medal of the Games with a national record in the men’s 50m rifle prone pairs, earning silver behind England’s Mick Babb and Chris Hector. Stirton almost missed the Games because of an eye problem, but shot two perfect rounds of 100 to contribute to the success.

Jackson and Sharp were able to avenge that Auld Enemy loss by themselves overcoming an English pairing; Sharon Lee and Helen Spittles having to settle for silver with 1161 points to the Scots’ 1166. For Jackson, a chartered accountant from Edinburgh, the success has been a gradual progression. She won bronze with Shirley McIntosh at Kuala Lumpur 98 and silver with Sharp in Manchester four years ago. “I knew if we could master the conditions we could get gold,” she said.

“We’ve done a lot of outdoor work in all sorts of weather, snow included, and gold is what we came for.”

Stirton, a 25-year-old applications analyst from Aberdeen, had been losing focus in his right eye prior to the competition and required a special contact lense to be made to help him. In the event, however, he opted not to wear it yesterday. “The lense can dry out so I make a decision on the day,” he said. “I felt I didn’t need it today.”

Sinclair, born in Folkestone but based in Erskine, dedicated his medal to his wife, Lynda, who was part of the 2002 Commonwealth Games shooting team. The 39-year-old added that but for the conditions the pair might have improved on their score of 1179 compared to England’s 1182.

Hockey went with rather less of a bang yesterday with both the Scottish men and women losing to their English counterparts. The women were badly beaten 5-0, but the men at least made a fight of it, going down 3-1 with David Mitchell the scorer. “Scotland have really improved as a hockey nation. We knew it would be a scrap,” said Ben Hawes, the England captain.