Dan Rivers admitted he has never been under so much pressure after winning a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games yesterday.

The 23-year-old shooter, from Didcot, came third in the 10m air rifle category at the Barry Buddon shooting centre in Carnoustie.

The former St Birinus School pupil triumphed in his first shoot-out after he and India’s Ravi Kumar were level on points after 16 shots.

Rivers was guaranteed a medal when he hit 10.1, with Kumar scoring 9.6.

But he had to settle for bronze when he was beaten by Abdullah Baki, of Bangladesh, in a shoot-out for silver.

Rivers compared his medal-winning shot to a penalty shoot-out in football.

“The heart rate, as soon as you see you are tied on the screen, it just goes up even more,” he said.

“You just have to pick your timing, go between the beats, and do your best. Nerves of steel or hit and hope?

“We try to train under pressure, but on this scale nothing compares.

“It’s like a penalty shoot-out in front of a packed stadium.”

Rivers had qualified for the final with a Games record score in the morning, and carried on his fine form.

He made sure of England’s first shooting medal of the championships, but missed out on silver when his score of 9.4 was bettered by Baki’s 9.8.

India’s Abhinav Bindra Bindra, the 2008 Olympic champion, took gold to win a ninth Commonwealth medal.

Rivers also competes in the 50m rifle prone on Monday and then the 50m three positions event on Tuesday, and actually rates this event as his weakest of the three.

He added: “On my day in the 50m rifle three positions I can put in a world-class score or the same as the rest, I’m looking forward to them.”

Emma Batten, the ex-Oxford Hawks star and Oxfordshire junior, was unable to prevent her Wales side from losing 9-0 to Australia in yesterday’s women’s hockey pool game.

Batten’s side trailed 5-0 at half-time and were outclassed throughout.

“I am not really sure what happened out there,” she said.

“We have two days off now before playing Scotland on Monday. That is a huge game.”

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