Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia was a class above the field while defending his title before Sakshi Malik produced a sensational gold medal-winning effort as India’s wrestlers grabbed five medals, including three gold, at the Commonwealth Games, in Birmingham, on Friday.
Deepak Punia (86kg) also contributed towards swelling India’s medal tally by winning the men’s freestyle 86kg gold.
However, birthday girl Anshu Malik (57kg) had to be content with a silver medal in her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance.
There was heartbreak on the hockey field as India’s women’s team went down fighting to Australia 3-0 via the shoot-out after the teams were locked 1-1 at full-time.
Here’s a look at how India’s athletes fared on Friday, Day 8 of the Games.
Athletics and Para Athletics:
Women’s 100m hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji crashed out in the first round heats after a below-par show, clocking 13.18 seconds and finishing fourth in Heat 2 and 10th overall.
Women’s Long Jump qualifying round – Group A: Ancy Edapilly Sojan failed to qualify for the final. She was ranked 13th overall in the qualifying round with a best jump of 6.25m, which was wind-assisted (tailwind of 2.3m/s).
Those touching the 6.75m mark or the 12 best performers across two groups advanced to the final.
Women’s 200m semi-final: Hima Das finished third with a timing of 23.42 seconds; failed to qualify for the final.
Men’s 4x400m relay: The quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Noah Nirmal Tom, Mohammed Ajmal and Amoj Jacob earned automatic qualification, clocking 3:06.97s to finish second behind Kenya in Heat 2.
India finished sixth overall across the two heats, Botswana’s 3:05.11s being the quickest.
Badminton:
Women’s doubles Round of 16: Jolly Treesa/Pullela Gayatri Gopichand beat Mauritius’s Jemimah Leung For Sang/Ganesha Mungrah 21-2, 21-4.
Men’s doubles Round of 16: Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty beat Pakistan’s Murad Ali and Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti 21-8, 21-7.
Women’s singles Round of 16: P V Sindhu beat Uganda’s Husina Kobugabe 21-10, 21-9.
Women’s singles Round of 16: Akarshi Kashyap beat Cyprus’s Eva Kattirtzi 21-2, 21-7.
Men’s singles Round of 16: Kidambi Srikanth beat Sri Lanka’s Dumindu Abeywickrama 21-9, 21-12.
Men’s singles Round of 16: Lakshya Sen beat Australia’s Ying Xiang Lin 21-9, 21-16.
Lawn Bowls:
Women’s Fours: The quartet of Lovely Choubey (lead), Pinki (second), Nayanmoni Saikia (third) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (slip) beat South Africa 17-10 in the women’s fours final to hand India a historic gold.
Men’s Fours: India were assured of a second medal after the men’s fours team made it to the final. The quartet of Sunil Bahadur (lead), Navneet Singh (second), Chandan Kumar Singh (third) and Dinesh Kumar (skip) defeated England 13-12 in the semi-finals.
Women’s Pairs: The pair of Lovely Choubey and Nayanmoni Saikai were knocked out in the quarter-finals. They lost to England’s Sophie Tolchard and Amy Pharoah 18-14.
Squash:
Men’s doubles Round of 16: Velavan Senthilkumar/Abhay Singh beat Scotland’s Douglas Kempsell and Alan Clyne 8-11 ,11-10, 11-8.
Mixed doubles quarter-finals: Dipika Pallikal/Sourav Ghosal beat Rachael Grinham and Zac Alexander of Australia 11-9, 11-5.
Table Tennis:
Mixed Doubles: Manika Batra and G Sathiyan beat Nigeria’s Olajide-Ajoke 11-7, 11-6, 11-7; Achantha Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja shocked two-time silver medallists Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho of England 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9 in the quarter-finals.
Women’s singles: Sreeja Akula beat Mo Zhang of Canada 9-11, 11-4, 6-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 to advance to the semi-finals. Earlier, she beat Charlotte Carey of Wales 8-11, 11-7, 12-14, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13, 12-10 earlier; Reeth Tennison lost to Singapore’s Feng Tianwei 2-11, 4-11, 11-9, 3-11, 4-11 in the Round of 16.
Hockey:
Women’s semi-finals: India lost to Australia 0-3 in the shoot-out, after the teams were locked 1-1 at full-time.
Wrestling:
Men’s Freestyle 125kg: Mohit Grewal won bronze. He won against Cyprus’s Alexios Kaouslidis 10-1 but lost in the semi-final to Canada’s Amarveer Dhesi by technical superiority. Up against Jamaica’s Aaron Anthony Johnson in the bronze medal bout, Grewal won by fall.
Men’s Freestyle 65kg: Bajrang Punia won gold. The 28-year-old defending champion beat Naurau’s Lowe Bingham and Mauritius’ Jean Guyliane Joris Bandou ‘by fall’ before winning by technical superiority against England’s Geroge Ramm. He beat Canada’s Lachlan Maurice McNeil 9-2 in the final.
Men’s Freestyle 86kg: Deepak Punia won gold. He beat New Zealand’s Matthew Clay Oxenham and Canada’s Alexander Moore 3-1 and got the better of Pakistan’s Muhammad Inam 3-0 in the final.
Women’s Freestyle 57kg: Anshu Malik ended up second-best. She won by technical superiority against Australia’s Irene Symeonidis and Sri Lanka’s Nethmi Ahinsa Fernando Poruthotage. She lost to Nigeria’s Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye in the final 3-7.
Women’s Freestyle 68kg: Divya Kakran clinched a bronze in 68kg, winning the medal play-off in just 26 seconds against Tonga’s Tiger Lily.
Women’s Freestyle 62kg: Sakshi Malik won gold. She beat Kelsey Barnes and Cameroon’s Berthe Emilienne before getting the better of Canada’sAna Paula Godinez Gonzalez in the final,
- Commonwealth Games 2022
Source: Read Full Article