By Prarthana Mitra
It was a good day for Indian shooters at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), as Shreyasi Singh won gold in the women’s double trap event, while Ankur Mittal and Om Mitharwal clinched two bronze medals in their respective categories on Wednesday.
Boxer Mary Kom waltzed into the final, as racket sports continued to register steady victories over the day. The Indian men’s hockey team crushed England in a nail-biting match to top Pool B, entering the semi-finals.
At the end of Day 7, India’s gold medal tally came up to 12. India occupies the third position on the table, with 24 medals in the bag, as the victorious athletes move forward to the next leg of the competition.
Another action packed day of #GC2018tabletennis has wrapped up at #GC2018. Presenting Partner Track and Field @Longines pic.twitter.com/tCa623j6FU
Gold Coast 2018 (@GC2018) April 11, 2018
A day for shooters, boxers and racket wielders
Shreyasi Singh, who bagged a silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Games, was shooting for gold yesterday and ultimately emerged victorious, after the event ended in a tie. Singh defeated Australian shooter Emma Cox, with a final score of 96+2. India was close to claiming a bronze, with double trap shooter and CWG debutant Varsha Varshan finishing a mere one point behind the eventual third-placed contestant.
Ankur Mittal, India’s top ranked double trap shooter, claimed bronze in the men’s finals, while Om Mitharwal won his second bronze, in the men’s 50m pistol event at the Gold Coast village yesterday. He joins Heena Sidhu as the second double-medalist.
Here are your gold medal winners in the double trap event! Shreyasi Singh from @ioaindia and David McMath from @Team_Scotland ! 👏🏽👏🏽 Tickets available to Friday’s session https://t.co/FkY1cMc3rK pic.twitter.com/Fy8yCMiwqP
Gold Coast 2018 (@GC2018) April 11, 2018
From the ring and the court
In other good news, India’s boxing contingent, Gaurav Solanki, Vikas Krishan Yadav, and Manish Kaushik entered the semi-final. Meanwhile five-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist, M.C. Mary Kom, stormed into the finals after emerging victorious at the womens 45-48kg boxing event. However, Sarita Devi and Pinki Rani’s journey at the CWG came to an end.
In tennis and badminton, India progressed to the next level of the competition. Saina Nehwal crushed South Africa’s Elsie de Villiers in the women’s singles’s 32nd round. Meanwhile, world No 2 Kidambi Srikanth is set to enter round 16, after defeating Mauritiuss Aatish Lubah. PV Sindhu, making her first appearance at the games, triumphed over Fijis Andra Whiteside, while tennis players Ruthvika Gaddea and HS Prannoy also added to India’s record of victories.
In the badminton mixed doubles round of 32, both the Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa duo, and the Pranaav Chopra and Sikki Reddy team emerged victorious. Manika Batra, who led the women’s table tennis team to a podium finish on Sunday, claimed a 3-0 win over Malaysia in the mixed doubles with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.
India’s Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu also overcame a tough Scottish challenge, scoring 2-0 in the squash mixed doubles event to enter the round of 16, while the Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon duo won 2-1 over Waless Peter Creed and Joel Makin.
However, India’s performance on the athletic front yesterday gives little cause for celebration. High jumper Tejaswin Shankar and sprinter Hima Das finished sixth in the final of their respective events, crushing all hopes of bagging two medals. India also faced miserable defeats in the lawn bowls events of Day 7, losing all their matches at Broadbeach.
As the Games enter Day 8, the stakes are high for the India’s atheletes to retain, if not upgrade, their position on the tally table.