Gold Coast: Pistol shooter Heena Sidhu shone the brightest with a gold and a Games record, while para-powerlifter Sachin Chaudhary put behind a dope-tainted past to claim a surprise bronze as the Indian juggernaut slowed down a bit after five days of gold rush at the Commonwealth Games here.
With weightlifters through with their campaign, wrestlers yet to take off and boxers only getting into medal rounds, the number of medal were not too many to show on day six of the Games. However, India held on to their third spot in the overall tally, behind hosts Australia and England.
The Indian contingent has so far collected 11 gold, four silver and six bronze medals.
Sidhu came up with a spectacular show in the competition by shooting down the gold as well as the games record in the women’s 25m pistol event. “I am exhausted, those are my thoughts on today’s performance,” Sidhu quipped.
Good show by boxers
It was a brilliant day for the boxers at the Oxenford Studios, where all five in action – Manoj Kumar (69kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) assured themselves of medals by advancing to the semi-finals. M.C. Mary Kom (48kg) is also through to the semifinals.
Athletics- Anas shines
There were some strong performances in the track and field events as well with Muhammad Anas Yahiya improving his personal best and breaking the national record for a third time to finish a creditable fourth in the men’s 400m final.
In the women’s 400m women’s semifinals, the 18-year-old Hima qualified for the final with a personal best of 51.53 seconds.
Hockey
In women’s hockey, a profligate Indian hockey team huffed and puffed into the Commonwealth Games semifinals after beating lower-ranked Malaysia 2-1 in a draining Pool B encounter on Tuesday.
Drag Flick specialist Harmanpreet Singh (3rd minute and 44th minute) scored twice from penalty corners to steer India to a victory. Faizal Saari (16th minute) pulled off the lone goal for Malaysia. Medal hopes will once again hinge on shooters when Jitu Rai takes aim in the 50m pistol event, having already claimed the 10m gold.
Star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will begin their quest for individual medals after their mixed team gold.
This post was published on April 11, 2018 5:40 pm