Sho: Mark jokes that John Wayne should've shot more Indians

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Sho: Mark jokes that John Wayne should've shot more Indians

By Maria Hawthorne

BISLEY, England, Aug 1 AAP - Clay shooter and one-time political aspirant Russell Markshowed a politically incorrect side today when he joked about India's shooting successat the Commonwealth Games.

A laughing Mark said actor John Wayne should have shot more Indians.

"John Wayne didn't take care of them all. He left a couple to breed and look what'shappened," Mark said after being beaten to gold in the double trap by India's RajyavardanSingh.

The gold helped India end a seventh consecutive day at the top of the medals tablewith 10 gold, six silver and three bronze.

Australia is second with eight gold, eight silver and five bronze and England thirdwith five gold, five silver and seven bronze.

Mark's comments, while clearly meant as a joke, could cause concern within sectionsof the Liberal Party still stung by the Olympic gold medallist's decision to pull outas the party's candidate for the marginal seat of Ballarat four months before the 2001election.

Mark stunned the government by announcing his decision in a statement, citing irreconcilabledifferences of opinion with key local Liberals about his campaign.

Labor's Catherine King ended up taking the seat.

As late as last Sunday, he was still not ruling out a return to politics, saying therewere plenty of people in Australia who wanted him to run for the Liberals.

Mark, who was pipped for gold in Sydney in the double trap by England's Richard Faulds,said his hat was off to Singh.

"You don't see 191 shot too often. I won the (Atlanta) Olympics with 189 so it's apretty good score," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian army rifleman Tim Lowndes came from fourth to first in his lastthree shots to set a new Games record and win gold in the men's 50m rifle prone singlesevent.

Lowndes, 22, realised he'd won gold when his coach let out a huge roar as his lasttarget scored a near-perfect 10.7 with his final shot, finishing with 699.8.

"My coach yelled out 'Timmy!' and I thought, this has got to be good, what's goingon here," Lowndes, a private at the Townsville barracks, said.

"I looked around and saw the score and thought, that'll do."

Lowndes leapfrogged England's Mike Babb and South Africa's Jaco Henn to take his medaltally to two gold and a bronze, with one event to go.

"I'm on coach's orders to behave myself before the next match so I guess I've got tobehave myself," he said.

"It's going to get messy after the match, I can tell you."

Newly-naturalised Australian Lalita Yauhleuskaya also won her second gold, winningthe women's 10m air pistol singles. Fellow Australian Annemarie Forder won the bronze.

AAP mfh/daw/md

KEYWORD: GAMES SHOOT AUST NIGHTLEAD