Highlights, Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast, Day 8: Wrestlers Sushil Kumar, Rahul Aware win gold; India claim two medals in athletics

20:15 (IST)

That's it from us. Before we end the blog, here's a quick wrap:

Sushil Kumar exceeded expectations to win gold in the freestyle wrestling 74 kg category. Fellow wrestler Rahul Aware earlier won India’s first gold medal of the day in the men’s freestyle 57 kg category.

Other medals include Tejaswini Sawant's silver medal in 50m Rifle Prone, while Babita Phogat also claimed silver in the women’s freestyle 53 kg Nordic wrestling category. 

In discus throw finals, Seema Punia won a silver, while Navjeet Dhillon got the bronze. 

Also, take a look at the medal tally: https://www.firstpost.com/commonwealth-games-2018/medal-tally/

Thanks for following our blog. We'll be back tomorrow. Take care! 

FT: India 0-1 Australia

It’s not all over; huge amount of positives. There is a massive difference in the team that went to Rio and what we have seen at the CWG. Harendra needs an attacking midfield that has the legs and the power to find the player up front. The middle half lacked for India. Yet they had the chances. Defended stoutly; great future. We now look forward to the bronze medal match.

Two sharp misses by India in the last two minutes. India couldn’t find the equaliser. No doubt, Australia was the better team. But you had the feeling that India were scattered in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. They needed to regroup and they didn’t. They came together at the end of the 4th quarter. But that was also because Australia yielded space. India could have gone closer, that would remain with them. Still a good campaign as India will fight it out for a bronze.

Three penalty corners blown by India. Not done in a semi-final. Australia lead 1-0. India could have easily equalised. But the belief seems to be slipping. India looked tired. Do they have enough strength for a few final assaults? They can if they build up to it. It’s a great opportunity for an equaliser. Create it.

Just 15 minutes to salvage something from this match. They began well. But crumbled later. Not in terms of goals but structure. They are defending and defending. Need to make some inroads into the Aussie striking circle. Australia lead 1-0.

GOAL! Australia 1-0 India

One mistake and India concede. High ball and Stewart connects and the ‘tennis volley’ goes in; lovely goal. But it could have been avoided. India making too many mistakes. Giving away the ball too easily. If India don't get some control back, there could be trouble.

India needs to give the ball early. Pressure from Aussies is making India commit mistakes in the midfield and just outside the striking circle. As a counter measure if India can just stretch the flanks, Australia could be surprised. It’s goalless in the 3rd Q. Australia will come strongly now.

And that’s the end of second quarter. India defending in numbers and attacking towards the end of second quarter. But Australia has the edge. They still haven’t got the Indian defence breaking. Goalkeeper Savita has come up with three penalty corners. In the 1st quarter, Australia had two penalty corners. India has been resolute but they need a little sharpness upfront. Long shots could also do it.

India slightly frustrated; five Indian defenders trying to crowd out one Aussie player. But that leaves gaps which one cross can exploit. India needs to hold the ball and stretch the players; too many coming together.

Women's discus throw final:

Seema Punia and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon fetched India’s first medals from track and field sport with silver and bronze respectively in women’s discus throw. The 34-year-old Seema Punia’s first throw over 60.41m was good to get her the silver medal – her fourth medal in successive Commonwealth Games since 2006. The Haryana girl who is now based in Meerut after the marriage has three silver medals and a bronze from the Games. Her 23-year-old team-mate Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, a bronze medallist at the world u-20 championships in 2014, lifted herself from fourth place by uncorking a gallant effort on her final throw. It went over 57.43m and past New Zealand’s Sostina Hakeai’s 57.16m. Australia’s Dani Stevens retained her hold on gold medal won in Glasgow 2014 with a stunning series of throws, including a Games record of 68.26m to erase New Zealand’s Beatrice Raini Liua Faumuina’s mark of 65.92m in 1998.

17:19 (IST)

Navjeet Dhillon bags bronze in discus throw final 

17:18 (IST)

Seema Punia wins silver in discus throw final 

Even though India look organised, this yellow card is not on. India’s Navneet Kaur gets a five-minute suspension. Australia realise pressure may break India in the midfield and they are going all out. India have to defend and look for a counter.

Purnima Hembram finished the four events on the opening day of the gruelling heptathlon competition in sixth place with 3441 points. She strove hard to keep pace with the leaders in her 200m heats but was unable to hold pace till the end and stopped the clock at 25.12 seconds. She has a personal best of 24.82 seconds set in July last year. The 23-year-old Odia will, however, draw satisfaction from the fact that she is in a better position at this stage than she was in Patiala last month when she achieved her personal best.  

Such a change this team. They take the pressure and also attack. At the moment, India are soaking it in. Australia going full press. End of Q1. It’s still goalless.

17:10 (IST)

Table tennis: Women's singles

Mouma Das campaign comes to an end in the quarter-finals of the women's singles event after suffering a 4-1 loss to Mengyu Yu, losing 13-15, 7-11, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11.

Australia full press now. India giving the ball easily away. Turn-overs benefitting the Aussies. India needs rotation. Find their player and make it count. Make the Aussies work.

17:01 (IST)

Women's discuss shot put 

Australia’s Dani Stevens recorded a 65.43, which is more than five metres longer than Seema Punia’s best effort so far. Looks like the Australian has won the gold here. Navjeet Dhillon is struggling at the moment. 

Full press from India, they want an early goal. That’s the only way India can put some pressure. But the crucial factor will be whether India can keep their structure for all the 4 Quarters or not. They have to be compact and tight in the defence. Australia then get two consecutive PC's. Savita saves the 2nd. But India has blown a referral. 

Early attack and almost a goal or a PC for India. Vanda and Rani make their move. Rani, just delays that shot and probably that moment went.

16:50 (IST)

Women's Discuss throw final:

India’s Seema Punia throws an excellent 60.41 in her first attempt. She is second on the table behind the local thrower Dani Stevens. Great start! 

Big night for Indian women; they are playing the CWG Semis against Australia. Packed stadium. It’s also Harendra Singh Vs Paul Gaudoin, both former players now coaching India and Australia. The Aussies are favourites. Harendra says sometimes being favourite has a different kind of pressure. Here we go – India Vs Australia

16:48 (IST)

And it is time for the women's hockey semi-final, where Rani Rampal-led India take on Australia for a place in the Commonwealth Games 2018 final 

16:26 (IST)

Women's Discus throw final:

India’s Seema Punia throws an excellent 60.41 in her first attempt. She is second on the table behind the local thrower Dani Stevens. Great start! 

Neena Pinto went within 8cm of being among the top eight competitors in the women’s long jump final when she leapt to a distance of 6.19m. Had she matched her 6.28m from the Federation Cup in Patiala last month, the 27-year-old may have earned herself three more jumps and a chance to improve her position. The greater disappointment was Nayana James, 22. Had she even matched what she had achieved during qualification, 6.34m, let alone the 6.51m she got in Patiala, she would have among the top three at the halfway stage of the finals. Instead, with a best jump of 6.14m, she was 12th and last.

16:21 (IST)

Table tennis: Women's singles

India's 22-year-old paddler Manika Batra advances to the last four of the competition with a 4-1 win over Singapore's Zhou. Batra attacked from the beginning to put her opponent under pressure. 

A brilliant win for the youngster! 

16:11 (IST)

Badminton: Women's doubles

Ashwini Ponnappa - Sikki Reddy off to a good start in their women's doubles match against Singaporean pair after clinching the first game 21-18.  

16:03 (IST)

Table tennis: Women's singles 

Manika Batra missed out on registering a clean-sweep win over Zhou after dropping the fourth game 6-11. That's okay. She still leads 3-1 in this tie. One more game and she'll enter the last four. 

15:56 (IST)

Dat guy Bolt 

Purnima Hembram remained in seventh place in the heptathlon standings after the shot-put event. Her best effort of 11.75m was worth 645 points and took her tally to 2565 from three events. Having got a personal best of 11.93m last year, she would have expected to draw energy from the big stage and go close to the 12m mark but she had to settle for a 29cm improvement on her effort in the Federation Cup in Patiala last month. She has a better tally at this stage than in the Federation Cup where she logged her personal best of 5815 points.

15:48 (IST)

Table tennis: Women's singles

India's Manika Batra is coasting against Singaporean paddler Yihan Zhou as she takes the first two games quite comfortably. She is so good with her forehand shots. 

15:41 (IST)

Women’s Heptathlon Shot Put

India's Purnima Hembram's first shot put attempt is 11.75. That's the seventh best in the field. 

So, after three heptathlon events, Purnima is placed seventh overall with 2,565 points. 

15:33 (IST)

Badminton: Men's doubles

Men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advance to quarters of men's doubles after beating Mauritian pair Lubah/Paul 21-8, 21-12

15:25 (IST)

Badminton: Women's singles 

Saina Nehwal advances to the quarter-finals of women's singles event, with her opponent Jessica Li retiring hurt in the 2nd game after surrendering the first 4-21

15:20 (IST)

We have missed out on a lot of action thanks to wrestling! 

In table tennis, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra defeated Canada's Marko Medjugorac Marko and Alicia Cote 8-11, 13-11, 12-10, 8-11 and 4-11 in mixed doubles competition.

Sutritha Mukherjee - Pooja Sahasrabudhe defeated Canada's Alicia Cote - Mo Zhang. On the other hand, Manika Batra - Mouma Das registered a 3-1 win over Ho Tin-Tin - Maria Tsaptsinos in women's doubles last-16 event. 

In men's doubles, Harmeet Desai - Sanil Shetty eased past Paul McCreery - Ashley Robinson to enter the quarter-finals. Sharath Kamal - Sathiyan G too strolled past Sri Lankan duo.  
Elsewhere in squash, Dipika Pallikar and Saurav Ghosal defeated Malaysia's Sanjay Singh and Azman Aifa 7-11, 11-6, 11-8 to reach the next round.

Long before Twitterati could write 280 characters, Sushil Kumar established his vast superiority over South Africa’s Johannes Botha in the final bout of the 74kg class and complete his hat-trick of Commonwealth Games gold medals. India’s 34-year-old former World champion and two-time medallist in Olympic Games in the 66kg class did not have to break into a sweat in sending the 28-year-old from Pretoria packing. It was almost as if he just had to turn up at the mat and take the gold but there is no doubt that Sushil Kumar has taken great care to be fit and competitive in what is his first major outing since the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. I the intervening years, he was disappointed by the Wrestling Federation of India not holding a trial to pick the Indian team for the Olympic Games in Rio.

14:14 (IST)

Wrestling: Men's freestyle 75kg 

Well, that escalated quickly. Sushil Kumar beats Johannes Botha in the final of men's freestyle 75kg. The defending champion didn't let his opponent make a single attempt as Sushil wraps up the match in less than 80 seconds.

14:09 (IST)

GOLD MEDAL FOR SUSHIL KUMAR! 

14:04 (IST)

Wrestling: Men's Freestyle 74 kg

Sushil Kumar is in action. Will he defend his title?

Kiran Bishnoi, 26, made her Commonwealth Games wrestling debut a happy one by winning the bronze medal with a facile victory over Mauritius Katouskia Pariadhaven in the 76kg class. Of course, she will be disappointed that she could not feature in the gold medal bout after losing the semifinals to Nigerian Blessing Onyebuchi without much of a fight. Kiran Bishnoi is the reigning Commonwealth champion in the 72kg class. She would have realised that the CWG are a different proposition. Yet, the manner in which she bounced back from that reverse to win the bronze should hold out hope.

India’s 26-year-old Rahul Babasahed Aware realised his dream of winning the Commonwealth Games gold in the 57kg class, six years after he won the Commonwealth Championship in the 55kg class. He had to watch Amit Kumar Dahiya compete and win the CWG 57kg gold in Glasgow in 2014. Having won the silver medal in the 61kg class in the Commonwealth Championship last year, the wrestler from Marathwada region reduced his body weight for the Gold Coast competition now. In a bout in which leads changed hands frequently, Rahul Aware managed to gain total control in the latter half of the second period with a calm approach and quick thinking to create and seize opportunities for a richly deserved gold. It would have settled some of his angst at having run into disciplinary issues with the Wrestling Federation of India ahead of the Rio Olympic Games after it seemed to favour Sandeep Tomar for a qualifying event.

13:40 (IST)

Wrestling: Women's freestyle 76 kg

Kiran claims the bronze medal via repechage as she raced to a 10-0 lead in the first period against Mauritius’s Katouskia Pariadhaven. She was awarded the match by technical superiority. Medal rush for Indian wrestlers! 

13:38 (IST)

Kiran wins BRONZE in wrestling! 

13:20 (IST)

Rahul Aware wins gold! 

The Indian wrestler beats Steven Takahashi 15-7 to claim the gold medal in the men's freestyle 57kg. What a clinical performance!

13:06 (IST)

Wrestling: 

The men’s freestyle 57 kg gold-medal match between Rahul Aware and Steven Takahashi of Canada is underway! 

The 28-year-old Babita Phogat’s bid to retain the Commonwealth Games 53kg class women’s wrestling gold came unstuck after she held a 2-1 lead over her Canadian rival Diana Weicker. Babita sought to consolidate her lead by remaining aggressive in the second period. Her urge to bring the Ontario nurse down to the mat was counterproductive. Though both wrestlers were down, the judge intervened to ensure that the Canadian was awarded two points at that stage. The 28-year-old Canadian, superior on the day, swung the bout decisively her way in the final three-quarters of a minute. The two grapplers were fighting for a gold medal in the five-player league after having won three bouts each.

12:52 (IST)

Wrestling:

Babita Kumari gave her everything but lost 2-5 to Canada’s Diana Weicker. The Canadian claimed four points in the second period and didn't look back since then. 

12:50 (IST)

Babita Phogat claims silver medal in women's freestyle 53kg 

12:45 (IST)

Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

India's Babita Kumari is in action against Diana Weicker of Canada. Expecting a close encounter! 

12:35 (IST)

Table tennis: Men's singles

India's Sathiyan Gnanasekaran enters the last eight of men's singles event as his Nigerian opponent Segun Toriola retires after losing the first game