Day 5 report: Two first-time gold medals from the men's table tennis team and the mixed badminton team, shooter Jitu Rai's triumph with a meet record and a medal each from Pardeep Singh, Om Mitharwal, Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela took India to the third position in the medal table at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Gold Coast on Monday.
While the men's table tennis team, spearheaded by Achanta Sharath Kamal, thrashed Nigeria 3-0 in the final, the mixed badminton team outplayed three-time defending champions Malaysia 3-1 in the final, as India overtook Canada in the medal table with 19 medals in total, including 10 gold. India is behind hosts Australia (106 medals) and England (63 medals).
Among other success stories, Manish Kaushik and Gaurav Solanki entered the quarter-finals, while high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and sprinter Muhammed Anas entered the finals on a day mixed day for the athletics contingent.
Shooters, for the second consecutive day, delivered the most number of medals, headlined by Jitu's wire-to-wire victory in the men's 10m Air Pistol final. Jitu created a new CWG record of 235.1 for his second gold medal at the CWG.
Om bagged the bronze in the same event with 214.3. He exited after the 22nd shot of the 24-shot final.
The women shooters also did India proud as Mehuli and Apurvi bagged silver and bronze respectively in the women's 10m Air Rifle event.
Mehuli lost to eventual champion Martina Lindsay Veloso of Singapore in the shoot-off after both were tied at a CWG record score of 247.2 in the final. Mehuli scored 9.9 while Martina shot 10.3 in the shoot-off.
Apurvi, the defending champion, got the bronze with 225.3.
Smit Singh flunked in the final of men's skeet shooting competition, finishing a disappointing sixth.
In team table tennis, India struck a golden pair as the men emulated the women's effort. The men's team defeated Nigeria 3-0, after beating Singapore in the semi-finals earlier in the day.
Sharath gave India an early 1-0 lead with a thumping 4-1 (4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9) comeback win over Bode Abiodun in the first singles match of the contest.
India's top-ranked singles player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran then doubled the lead with another come-from-behind victory over Segun Toriola 4-1 (10-12, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4).
Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai were assigned to the doubles tie and the duo rather had a comfortable 11-8, 11-5, 11-3 win against Omotayo Olajide and Abiodun Bode.
Sharath had won twice to guide India past Singapore in the semi-finals.
The mixed badminton team also rose to the occasion. World No.2 men's singles star Kidambi Srikanth, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa all winning a match each to power India past Lee Chong Wei-spearheaded Malaysia which was winning gold since the 2006 CWG.
Elsewhere, India completed its weightlifting campaign with nine medals — the last coming from Pardeep's Singh silver in the men's 105 kg category, lifting 152kg in snatch and 200kg in clean and jerk for a total of 352kg.
Other lifters in action during the day, Purnima Pandey finished sixth in a field of eight competitors in the women's +90kg category, while Lalchhanhimi finished eighth in the 90kg category with a total of 194kg.
In boxing, Kaushik overcame Michael Alexander of Trinidad and Tobago in the round of 16 stage of the lightweight (60kg) category, with a 4:0 margin as four of the five judges ruled in his favour while one scored it as a draw.
Earlier, Solanki entered the quarter-finals of the men's flyweight (52kg) category, defeating Akimos Annang Ampiah of Ghana by a unanimous 5:0 verdict in the round of 16.
In athletics, Shankar entered the final of the men's high jump event with a best attempt of 2.21 metres, finishing the qualification stage at the joint fifth spot.
Sprinter Anas entered the final of the men's 400m event, finishing first in the semifinal, clocking 45.44 seconds with a reaction time of 0.132.
Long-distance runner Suriya Loganathan finished outside of the medals in the women's 10,000m final but had a personal best timing of 32:23.56. She finished at the 13th spot.
Tejinder Pal Singh finished a disappointing eighth in the men's shot put final with a best throw of 19.42 metres.
In lawn bowls, India outplayed South Africa 19-7 in the men's Fours round 1, while the women's team lost 15-23 to Fiji in the Triples opening round.
However, there were disappointments on the pool, with Virdhawal Khade and Srihari Nataraj crashing out of the 50m Freestyle and 200m backstroke event respectively.
With inputs from IANS
Published Date: Apr 10, 2018 04:13 AM | Updated Date: Apr 10, 2018 15:17 PM
Highlights
Hussamuddin WIN
India assured of a medal in boxing after Hussamuddin beat Mulenga Everisto of Zambia with a unanimous decision of 5-0.
Dipika Pallikal-Saurav Ghosal clinch the tie
The indian pair maintained their dominance as they won the second game 11-3. With that, they also clinched the match against Pakistan.
HEENA SIDHU WINS GOLD
Heena Sidhu breaks the Commonwealth Games record on her way to clinching gold in the women's 25m pistol shooting event.
Naman Tanwar enters semi-finals
19-year-old Naman Tanwar is in the semi-finals of the 91kg men's boxing event after a unanimous points win over Masoe. His win also assures India of another medal in boxing.
Amit Panghal beats Aqeel Ahmed to reach the semi-final and assure India of a medal
Amit Panghal assures India of a medal after making it into the semi-final with a split-decision victory over the Scotsman. Four out of the five judges rule in his favour.
Dipika Pallikal-Saurav Ghosal win
The squash mixed doubles pair of Dipika and Saurav have won their Pool E clash against Guyana's Mary Fung-a-Fat and Jason-Ray Khalil. The Indian pair comfortably won the match 11-3,11-3.
Satwiksairaj-Ashwini win
20 minutes is all it takes Satwik and Ashwini to brush past Guernsey's Hardy and Le Tissier as they win 21-9, 21-5. The Indian pair will face England's Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh in the next round.
Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu qualify for final
Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sindhu took their appointed places in the women’s 25m pistol final, finishing in second (584 points) and third (579) places respectively in the qualification behind Singapore’s Xiu Hong. Annu Raj Singh, the 34-year-old shooter from Aligarh, had the best score of 293 in the precision series, topping Xiu Hong Teh’s 291 while Heena Sidhu’s 286 left her with some work to do in the rapid-fire series. The 28-year-old from Mumbai responded with a score of 293, including two successive 99s. The final will be held at 11 am IST.
FT! India 2-1 Malaysia
Harmanpreet Singh's brace helps India beat Malaysia 2-1 and take them to the semi-finals!
GOAL! Harmanpreet restores India's lead!
India get five PCs in a row and off the third one, Harmanpreet slams the ball into the top corner giving Hairi in the Malaysian goal no chance to save.
Gagan Narang and Chain Singh qualify for finals
India's Gagan Narang and Chain Singh qualify for the final of the 50m rifle prone event in third and sixth place. Narang shoots 102.5, 104.8, 102.3, 103.2, 103.4 and 100.8 for a total score of 617.0 while Chain Singh shoots 104.3, 104.2, 103.1, 100.9, 102.3 and 99.4 for a total score of 614.2.
GOAL! Malaysia equalise!
SV Sunil loses the ball in midfield and Malaysia launch a counter-attack. The Malaysian No 10 Faizal Saari finds himself in a one-on-one situation with Sreejesh in goal and sells the India keeper a dummy before slotting the ball into the empty net.
GOAL! Harmanpreet Singh gives India the lead!
3 minutes up and India take the lead! India win a penalty corner in their first foray into the Malaysian circle and Harmanpreet Singh smashes in a low shot into goal and the keeper can do nothing about it.
15:16 (IST)
Positive start by SA
India needs to make their moves inside the SA circle count. Not to waste any effort moving in. If they can get a goal in the 1st Q. But SA also has their first shot on the Indian goal. Punia saves.
15:09 (IST)
India women's hockey team take on South Africa
Good control by India. They are trying to use the short passes to create some moves inside the SA striking circle. SA is a good counter attacking team but India should try for some PC’s as they have Gurjit Kaur to flick them in. India attacking with some venom now.
15:08 (IST)
Hussamuddin WIN
India assured of a medal in boxing after Hussamuddin beat Mulenga Everisto of Zambia with a unanimous decision of 5-0.
15:04 (IST)
Another tight round
Everisto showed more intensity but he couldn't dominate Hussamuddin. Let's wait for the results.
15:00 (IST)
Hussamuddin dominate
The Indian was quite aggressive in the second round. His opponent Everisto was all over the place.
14:57 (IST)
Tight first round
Hussamuddin dominated in the early stages of the round but did not look very convincing at the end.
14:53 (IST)
Mohammed Hussamuddin in action
Hussamuddin is taking on Mulenga Everisto of Zambia in the men's 56kg quarterfinal.
14:39 (IST)
Dipika Pallikal-Saurav Ghosal clinch the tie
The indian pair maintained their dominance as they won the second game 11-3. With that, they also clinched the match against Pakistan.
14:30 (IST)
Dipika Pallikal-Saurav Ghosal off to a good start
Top stuff from the Indian pair as they clinch the opening game 11-2.
14:12 (IST)
It's squash time!
India's two premium squash players Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal will team up against Pakistan's Madina Zafar and Tayyab Aslam in mixed doubles Pool E match.
13:30 (IST)
Take a look at the upcoming events involving India on day 6.
13:20 (IST)
"Indian women don't just believe in winning medals, they like shattering records in doing so"
13:01 (IST)
Here's the medals tally:
India are on third spot after taking 11 gold medals. Still five more days to go so there's ample time to overtake last year's tally of 15 gold medals. India will look to get more medals in shooting, boxing and wrestling.
11:49 (IST)
Heena Sidhu silences critics by winning gold
Heena Sidhu kept her nerve throughout the Russian Roulette of a women’s 25m pistol and shot gold to quell some of the criticism around her selection ahead of the teenager Manu Bhaker for the event. Coming through qualification only in third place, she kept teasing the guillotine and beat Australian Elena Galiabovitch to win India’s 11th gold in this Commonwealth Games and her first individual gold in three editions of the Commonwealth Games. Annu Raj Singh, who was second in qualification, was unable to find her rhythm and went out in sixth place. It is tough to imagine what Heena Sidhu’s scores would have been if indeed the 28-year-old dentist from Mumbai did not shoot in Gold Coast with the sensation of pins and needles in her index finger (the trigger finger) as she pointed out after finishing with a silver in the 10m air pistol two days ago.
11:40 (IST)
Heena Sidhu wins gold as Annu Raj Singh finishes sixth
Brilliant shooting from Heena as she sets the Games record by hitting the target 38 times out of her 50 shots. After winning silver in the 10m air pistol event, she swaps the colour of her medal to gold in the 25m pistol event. Annu, on the other hand, couldn't build on her strong start and finished sixth.
11:26 (IST)
HEENA SIDHU WINS GOLD
Heena Sidhu breaks the Commonwealth Games record on her way to clinching gold in the women's 25m pistol shooting event.
11:22 (IST)
Heena in a two-way battle for gold
Heena misses two shots as Galiabovitch closes the gap on Heena by a point.
11:21 (IST)
Heena increases lead by three points
Heena misses her first shot but nails the rest to open a three-point lead over Galiabovitch.
11:17 (IST)
Heena opens a two-point gap at the top
Heena only misses her second shot on her way to take a two-point lead as Galibovitch can only find the target twice. Xiu Hong Teh is eliminated after a shoot-off with Eleanor Bezzina.
11:14 (IST)
Heena in joint lead as Annu is eliminated
After the sixth series, Heena fires five perfect shots to level with Galiabovitch at the top. However, Annu is successful in only two shots and finds herself eliminated.
11:12 (IST)
Heena trims lead at top to two points while Annu battles for survival
Heena shoots 5 to trim Galiabovitch's lead at top to two points while Annu survives elimination after Malaysian Bibiana Pel Chin Ng shoots a 0.
11:10 (IST)
Heena Sidhu second while Annu Raj Singh seventh after fourth series
After the fourth series in the rapid shooting variant, Heena Sidhu is second with 13 points, three behind Elena Galiabovitch. However, Annu finds herself one place away from elimination after shooting only 11.
11:08 (IST)
Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh in action in final
Heena Sidhu and Annu Raj Singh are in action in the women's 25m pistol shooting final. The first stage — the rapid shooting variant — is underway.
11:05 (IST)
Naman Tanwar enters semi-finals
19-year-old Naman Tanwar is in the semi-finals of the 91kg men's boxing event after a unanimous points win over Masoe. His win also assures India of another medal in boxing.
11:03 (IST)
Naman Tanwar vs Frank Masoe
That third period was particularly damaging for Masoe. He found himself repeatedly at the end of Tanwar's punches. He was given the count by the referee once in the third period, and dropped his mouth guard once. But the third period was where Tanwar's domination showed.
10:57 (IST)
Naman Tanwar vs Frank Masoe
19-year-old Naman Tanwar, the man with the unusual stance, has been all hooks and upper-cuts in the first two periods. His punches have found their mark on quite a few occasions, but his opponent for the day is no spring chicken. Frank Masoe is the son of former WBA World Middleweight Champion Maselino and the nephew of All Blacks player Chris Masoe. He’s fought fire with fire.
10:48 (IST)
Naman Tanwar in action in men's 91kg boxing quarter-final
19-year-old Naman Tanwar takes on Samoa's Frank Masoe in the 91kg boxing quarter-final. Tanwar had beaten Uganda's Haruna Mhando in his first bout.
09:42 (IST)
Amit Panghal beats Aqeel Ahmed to reach the semi-final and assure India of a medal
Amit Panghal assures India of a medal after making it into the semi-final with a split-decision victory over the Scotsman. Four out of the five judges rule in his favour.
09:33 (IST)
Amit Panghal vs Aqeel Ahmed
The second round was scrappy, yet feisty. Amit had Aqeel pinned on the ropes for a while there and threw a flurry of punches in that phase. Late on in the 3-minute second round, a left hook from Amit had the Scot rattled. The Scottish boxer seems to be bleeding just over his right eye.
09:30 (IST)
Amit Panghal vs Aqeel Ahmed
Amit, in the red corner, has a visible height disadvantage to Aqeel. He took a few punches early on in the first round but has since recovered his poise and made it a fight. He, however, needs to be wary of the Scottish pugilist's right hand, which has made some damage in the first period.
09:24 (IST)
Boxer Amit Panghal in action in men's 49kg quarter-final
2017 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships bronze medallist Amit Panghal takes on Scotland's Aqeel Ahmed in the men's 49kg quarter-final. Amit had earlier beaten Ghana's Tetteh Sulemanu in his round of 16 bout.
09:06 (IST)
Dipika Pallikal-Saurav Ghosal win
The squash mixed doubles pair of Dipika and Saurav have won their Pool E clash against Guyana's Mary Fung-a-Fat and Jason-Ray Khalil. The Indian pair comfortably won the match 11-3,11-3.
09:01 (IST)
Satwiksairaj-Ashwini win
20 minutes is all it takes Satwik and Ashwini to brush past Guernsey's Hardy and Le Tissier as they win 21-9, 21-5. The Indian pair will face England's Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh in the next round.
08:58 (IST)
Wales' David Phelps breaks CWG record to win gold in 50m rifle prone event
British nations finished on the podium as Wales' David Phelps, Scotland's Neil Stirton and England's Kenneth Parr finish with gold, silver and bronze. For India, Chain Singh missed out on a medal as he finished fourth while veteran Gagan Narang finished a disappointing seventh.
08:54 (IST)
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa in action in mixed doubles
Fresh after their triumph in the mixed team event, Satwiksairaj and Ashwini are in action in the mixed doubles match. The duo plays Guernsey's Stuart Hardy and Chloe Le Tissier and have won the first game 21-9 and lead 11-2 at the break in the second game.
08:51 (IST)
Chain Singh finishes fourth in men's 50m prone rifle event
Chain shoots a disappointing 9.3 and 10.0 on his 19th and 20th shots and finishes fourth with a score of 204.8. Nevertheless, it was a very good performance from the 29-year-old.
08:47 (IST)
Chain Singh stays in fourth after 18 shots
The competition is tough out there as despite shooting 10.4 and 10.5, Chain doesn't rise to the top three. He needs to shoot better to get into a medal position.
08:45 (IST)
Chain Singh drops to fourth after 16 shoots
A 9.5 and a 10.3 sees Chain drop to fourth with a score of 164.6. However, he's only.9 points off the leader David Phelps.
08:43 (IST)
Gagan Narang eliminated after 14 shots, Chain Singh in joint lead
Some poor shooting from Gagan Narang sees the veteran shooter being eliminated from the final. However, there is still hope for India as ChainSingh takes the lead after shooting two 10.6s.
08:40 (IST)
Chain Singh rises to second while Gagan Narang stays at seventh
Chain shoots a pair of 10.3s to climb to second while a 9.6 and a 10.5 sees him stay in seventh.
08:39 (IST)
Gagan Narang falls to the seventh position while Chain Singh stays at fourth
Gagan slips down to seventh after shooting a 9.5 while Chain stays in fourth with a score of 103.0
08:36 (IST)
Gagan Narang and Chain Singh start strongly
Narang sits joint-second after five shots with a score of 51.5 while Chain Singh is joint-fourth with a score of 51.3.
08:34 (IST)
Gagan Naran and Chain Singh in final of men's rifle prone event
08:03 (IST)
Para Powerlifter Farman Basha finishes fifth
Indian para powerlifter Farman Basha finishes fifth in the men's lightweight category. Basha lifted 140 with a rack height of 11cm to finish with 169.4 points. Ashok failed to lift in any of his attempts and did not finish the event.
07:08 (IST)
Dharun Ayyaswamy bows out in semi-finals
Dharun Ayyaswamy tried hard to use the pace of his 400m hurdles heats to his advantage but bowed out in fifth place with a time of 49.85 seconds. Had he managed to replicate his national record time of 49.45 that he scripted in the Federation Cup in Patiala last month, he could possibly have finished third in the heats and sought to advance as one of the two fastest losers. In the event, by being fifth, the 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu did not stand a chance of making it to the final. Kyron McMaster (British Virgin Islands), a World U20 Championships bronze medallist, won the heats in 48.78 seconds.
07:07 (IST)
Joshna Chinappa-Dipika Pallikal win
India's squash doubles pair of Joshna Chinappa-Dipika Pallikal have won their opening Pool C match against Pakistan's Faiza Zafar and Madina Zafar. The Indian duo won 10-11, 11-0, 11-1.
06:53 (IST)
Dharun Ayyasamy bows out in semi-finals
400m hurdler Dharun Ayyasamy finishes 5th in his semi-final with a time of 49.85.
06:45 (IST)
Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu qualify for final
Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sindhu took their appointed places in the women’s 25m pistol final, finishing in second (584 points) and third (579) places respectively in the qualification behind Singapore’s Xiu Hong. Annu Raj Singh, the 34-year-old shooter from Aligarh, had the best score of 293 in the precision series, topping Xiu Hong Teh’s 291 while Heena Sidhu’s 286 left her with some work to do in the rapid-fire series. The 28-year-old from Mumbai responded with a score of 293, including two successive 99s. The final will be held at 11 am IST.
06:39 (IST)
FT. India 2-1 Malaysia
India win finally. It’s 2-1. Hard fought match but India played firmly in the 4th Q. Getting a PC by Harmanpreet and controlling the ball not giving away too many turnovers. India are in the semi-final and that should lift the team when they take on England in the last Pool match tomorrow. Malaysia have always been tricky opponents and they had some good chances and even scored a lovely goal. But overall, yet another determined display from India, holding on and getting a vital victory. Usually, when things don’t go your way, a team needs to hang in and claim a win – and that’s what India did.
06:34 (IST)
FT! India 2-1 Malaysia
Harmanpreet Singh's brace helps India beat Malaysia 2-1 and take them to the semi-finals!