Commonwealth Games 2018 Live Updates: Mirabai, Gururaja put India on medal tally; good show in Badminton, Squash
The Indian contingent has begun their quest to win at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. The multi-sport extravaganza began on Wednesday with the opening ceremony in the Australian city known for its sandy beaches and surfing spots.
The Indian contingent has begun their quest to win at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. The multi-sport extravaganza began on Wednesday with the opening ceremony in the Australian city known for its sandy beaches and surfing spots.
Indian weightlifter P Gururaja won the first silver medal for the nation at the 21st Commonwealth Games in the 56 kg category.
PM Narendra Modi wished the teams saying that every Indian is cheering for them. "All the best to the athletes representing India at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games! Our sportspersons have worked tremendously hard and the Games will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase their talent. Every Indian is cheering for our contingent," Modi twitted.
India have sent a strong 220-strong contingent to the 21st edition of the Games.
While Indian women hockey team lost their first match to Wales, Indian badminton team began their campaign with a win over Sri Lanka. Table Tennis team too have won their group matches against Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago.
World champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will be in focus for her high medal-winning chances. India's boxers will also be watched keenly.
Live Blog
The Indian contingent has begun their quest to win at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. The multi-sport extravaganza began on Wednesday with the opening ceremony in the Australian city known for its sandy beaches and surfing spots.
Men's Basketball: India lose to Cameron 85-92.
And that's it for competitions on day 1 of Commonwealth Games 2018. Overall, a good day for India with two medals - one gold and one silver- in the bag.
Badminton: India beat Pakistan 5-0 in the Mixed-Team event.
Satwik/N Sikki Reddy beat Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti/Palwasha Bashir 21-10, 21-13
Kidambi Srikanth beat Murad Ali 21-16, 22-20.
Saina Nehwal beat Mahoor Shahzad 21-7, 21-11
Pranaav/Shetty beat Bhatti/Ali 21-9, 21-15
Ponappa/Gadde beat Shahzad/Bashir 21-6, 21-10
Swimming: India's Srihari Natraj and Virdhawal Khade finish bottom in their respective semifinals. Natraj with 56.65 seconds in Men's 100m Backstore finishes eighth while Khade posts 24.50 to also finish eighth in 50m Butterfly.
Squash: Vikram Malhotra moves forward in Men's Singles event beating Xavier Koenig of Mauritius 11-4, 11-3, 11-0
Basketball: India women's team goes down 57-66 to Jamaica in the Preliminary Round Pool B game.
Boxing: Manoj Kumar beats Osita Umeh in the 69kg Round of 32. Unanimous verdict in favour of Manoj with 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 amd 30-26
Squash: Dipika Pallikal beats Trinidad and Tobago's Charlotte Knaggs 3-0 in women's singles round of 32. She joins Joshna Chinappa in moving forward in Squash women's singles event.
Table Tennis: India men's team beat Northern Ireland 3-0.
Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN beat Ashley ROBINSON 11-4, 11-6, 11-4
Sharath ACHANTA beat Paul MCCREERY 11-6, 11-8, 11-4
Harmeet DESAI/Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN beat Zak WILSON/Paul MCCREERY 11-2, 9-11, 11-7
Squash: Sourav Ghosal loses to Chris Binnie of Jamaica 11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11 and 10-12 in in Men's Singles event.
India's Raja Muthupandi finishes with 266 kg in Men's 62kg weightlifting, lifts 150 kg in clean and jerk event. He finishes sixth.
India's Raja Muthupandi lifts 116 kg in snatch of Men's 62kg weightlifting event. He is at sixth position. Pakistan's Talib Talha leads with 132 kg lift- a new Commonwealth Games record.
Here is how the CWG 2018 medal tally looks like:
| Commonwealth Games 2018 Medal Table | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Bermuda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Malaysia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | South Africa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | England | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Mauritius | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | Canada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Scotland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Mirabai Chanu lifted a total of 196 kg (86 kg in snatch and 110 kg in Clean and Jerk) to be the clear winner of the gold medal in women's weightlifting in 48 kg category.
Not even she surpassed her personal best, she also reset her own Commonwealth Games record.
"After I failed the first two attempts, my coach reminded me how much my life depends on this. I remembered my family and my country," P Gururaja, silver medalist in 56 kg weightlifting category, said when asked what went through his mind in those nervy moments.
In the meantime, Mirabai Chanu is gearing up for clean and jerk round of women's weightlifting in 48 kg category.
Indian Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu set Commonwealth Games record in women's 48 kg category by lifting 86 kg in snatch.
Chanu started with 80 kg, a kilo less than her previous record. For the second snatch she went for 84 kg and third lift was the new record set at the Commonwealth Games.
This gives her a 10 kg lead over her rivals.
After the break, athletes will now compete in clean and jerk category.
Squash player Harinder Pal Sandhu of India has moved to the next round of men's singles category.
He beat Cayman Island's Cameron Stafford 3-1
World champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu is in action in the 48kg category of 21st Commonwealth Games.
Chanu, who claimed a silver at the 2014 CWG, is being considered a sure shot medal prospect for India as her personal best of 194kg stands over 10kg more than her nearest rival in the competition.
"We needed to be energetic and play for attacking hockey. We pushed higher up, started attacking more and pressed," a disappointed Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Pampal said after losing the opening match against Wales.
India's Harinder Pal Sandhu is facing Cayman Island's Cameron Stafford in the first round of Men's singles squash match.
Indian women's table tennis team registered an easy win against Sri Lanka in their respective group matches. Manika Batra, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe beat Sri Lanka 3-0.
Men's team, on the other hand, achieved the same feat against Trinidad and Tobago. Anthony Amalraj, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai won their respective group matches.
Badminton -
The pair of Ruthvika Shivani Gadde-Pranaav Jerry Chopra gave lead to India over Sri Lanka with the score of 21-15, 19-21, 22-20. The game lasted 57 minutes
Then, one of India's star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth gave a masterclass to Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne 21-16, 21-20 to win men's singles tie of the team event.
Later, India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty ferociously snatched third win against the neighbouring country with the score of 21-17, 21-14
2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Saina Nehwal had no difficulty in brushing aside Sri Lanka's Madushika Dilrukshi Beruwelage 21-8, 21-4
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy won their game to give 5-0 lead over Sri Lanka
Australia's Sally Pearson, the 2012 London Olympics hurdles champion, is expected to withdraw from competition due to a nagging Achilles injury, host broadcaster Channel 7 reported.
Pearson, who was the final bearer of the Queen's Baton Relay at the opening ceremony, has called a media conference at 1 p.m.
(Reuters)
Bermuda's Flora Duffy won the first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games, and her country's first since Auckland in 1990, when she stormed to victory in the women's triathlon.
The two-time world champion powered away in the run after sticking to England's Jessica Learmonth in the swim and cycling legs of the race, which was a sprint event rather than over the traditional Olympic distances.
Indian weightlifter Gururaja Poojary won a silver medal for the country in 56 kg clean and jerk event.
In his first snatch, Gururaja successfully lifted 107 kg. His second snatch of 111 kg was successful in the third lift. For the final snatch, he lifted 138 kg in his third lift. That opened the medal tally for India.
Malaysia's Muhammad Azroy Hazalwafie Izhar Ahmad got gold with a Games record total of 261kg.
India's hockey campaign was off to a disappointing start at the Commonwealth Games after the country's women's team went down 2-3 to Wales, trailing for most of the Group A clash.