By Elton Gomes
Indian took its overall medal tally to 31 on the eighth day of the Commonwealth Games 2018. Wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Rahul Aware won gold in the men’s freestyle 74 kg and 57 kg, receptively.
Babita Kumari won a silver in the women’s 53 kg freestyle. Canadian Diana Weicker defeated Kumari 5-2 in the final.
Wrestler Kiran blanked Mauritian Katouskia Pariadhaven 10-0 to win bronze in the women’s 76 kg freestyle.
In women’s 50 metre rifle prone, Tejaswini Sawant won a silver after finishing behind Singapore’s Martina Lindsay Veloso. The final event had 20 members, and Sawant shot a series of 102.1, 102.4, 103.3, 102.8, 103.7 and 104.7 to gather a cumulative score of 618.9.
Sawant finished behind Veloso who created a games record with her cumulative score of 621.
Sawant’s medal is her sixth in the Commonwealth Games. She won two gold medals in the 2006 Melbourne games and two silver and one bronze medals in the 2010 New Delhi games.
Anjum Moudgil, the other Indian shooter in the final, scored 602.2 and finished 16th among the 20 competitors.
I congratulate Tejaswini Sawant for winning the Silver in the women's 50m Rifle Prone event at #GC2018. This is the result of her perseverance and dedication towards shooting: PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/yhsQT9djGT
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 12, 2018
Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon added to India’s medal tally after winning a silver and a bronze, respectively, in the women’s discus throw final.
Punia recorded her best effort of 60.41 metres, and her silver was her fourth successive medal at the games. The Indian women’s hockey team lost 1-0 to Australia in the semi-final. They now face England with hopes to return home with a bronze.
India still stands third in the overall medals tally with a total of 14 golds and 31 overall medals. Australia with a total tally of 150 medals sits comfortably at the top of the table. The host team has won 62 gold medals so far. England is in second place on the table with 28 golds and 85 medals overall.
What to watch out for
On day 9 of the games, boxers Vikas Krishnan, Manoj Kumar, Satish Kumar, Mohammed Hussamuddin, Naman Tanwar, Manish Kaushik, Gaurav Solanki, and Amit will compete to win medals in their respective categories.
In badminton, the Indian contingent will play the quarterfinals, whereas the Indian men’s hockey team will take on New Zealand in the semi-finals.
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