16-year-old breaks Commonwealth Games record to win shooting gold for India

Manu Bhaker of India competes in the women's 10-meter air pistol final.
CNN  — 

A 16-year-old competing in her first Commonwealth Games has won India’s first-ever gold medal in her shooting event, despite only picking up a pistol for the first time two years ago.

Manu Bhaker won the 10-meter air pistol competition with a record total of 240.9 points at the Games, underway in Gold Coast, Australia.

“When she picks up a sport, she becomes obsessive about it,” her father, Ramkishen Bhaker, told ESPN, describing his daughter as a natural sportswoman.

“I’ve never forced her to compete, she just pushes herself to excel. She started boxing when she was six years old and within six months she won a bronze at the Haryana sub-junior championships,’ He added.

“She was a state-level champion in skating and she won medals in athletics too. She won a gold medal at the Tang Ta nationals and has a national medal in karate, too.”

Gold medalist Manu Bhaker, center, with India's silver medalist Heena Sidu, left, and  Australia's bronze medalist Elena Galiabovitch.

Bhaker has now set her sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

READ: 11-year-old Welsh athlete takes Commonwealth Games by storm

The Commonwealth Games run until April 15. Day Four of the Games was an extended one, with 31 gold medals up for grabs.

Here are some more highlights:

The post-Bolt era begins

Yohan Blake of Jamaica, center, completed his 100m sprint heat in 10.15 seconds.

The athletics, or track and field, competition started Sunday. To some observers the 100-meter sprint heats may have felt strange without champion Usain Bolt, who retired last year.

Carrying the flag for Jamaica at the Games this time is sprinter Yohan Blake, who was fastest in his heat and is now in Monday’s final. Just don’t call him the Beast anymore – Blake is trying to get rid of that particular nickname.

READ: Ugandan defies cultural norms & father’s wishes to follow netball dream

Volleyball and water pistols

As you would expect with a place called the Gold Coast, there are picturesque beaches at every turn. So where better to place the volleyball stadium than with a coastal backdrop just steps from the sand?

The atmosphere inside the stadium has been festival-like with music, dancers, announcers encouraging spectators to “seat-surf” and volunteers spraying the crowd with water pistols.

A beauty queen turned weightlifter

Sarah Davies of England competes in the Women's 69kg final.

Former English beauty queen Sarah Davies won silver in the women’s 69 kg weightlifting competition.

Cheers for a straggler

Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei leads the pack in the men's 5000m final.

A nice moment occurred in the men’s 5000 meters at Carrara Stadium. While Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda claimed gold, it was the competitor at the back of the race who caught the fans’ attention.

Patrick Kam, one of only 14 athletes from the Solomon Islands at the Games, still had two laps to go as the winner crossed the line. The crowd got louder and louder as he rounded the track, resulting in a standing ovation as he finally finished the race. Sometimes it really is the taking part that counts.

She said yes!

Another nice moment took place in Team England basketball, where men’s player Jamell Anderson proposed on the court to his girlfriend Georgia Jones, who plays for the women’s team.