A historic bronze medal in squash singles, a silver in judo, two bronze medals in weightlifting, and an 'against all odds' bronze for Tejaswin Shankar were the main highlights of what was yet another successful day for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Wednesday.
Ace Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal created history by winning the first-ever singles medal at the Commonwealth Games while Tulika Maan bagged the only silver of the day in judo. The final medal on Day 6 came from a man who wasn't even sure if he would be competing at the Games, just a few days back when Tejaswin watched the opening ceremony from his home, due to visa delay.
The one silver and four bronze on Day 6 took India's tally at Birmingham to 18 medals – five gold, six silver, and seven bronze medals.
Here's a wrap of some of the big results on Day 6:
India's Tejaswin Shankar celebrates alongside the gold and silver medallist of the men's high jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
(Photo: PTI)
Athletics: Tejaswin Wins India's First Track and Field Medal in Birmingham
Tejaswin Shankar opened the Indian athletics team's medal account with a bronze in the men's high jump event in the Commonwealth Games.
National record holder Shankar cleared 2.22m to finish third in the event. The 23-year-old, who was added to the squad last-minute on the orders of Delhi High Court, has a season's best of 2.27m and personal best of 2.29m.
Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won the gold while Australia's Brandon Starc clinched the silver. Both cleared 2.25m but could not soar over 2.28m but the Kiwi won the gold on count back.
Silver medallist Tulika Maan during the medal ceremony of the women's 78 kg category judo event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Judo: Tulika Maan Wins Silver
Indian judoka Tulika Maan gave her all but came up short against Scotland's Sarah Adlington in the gold medal match to bag a silver in the women's 78kg category event.
Tulika, who won two fights earlier in the day to make it to the final, led for the majority of the bout before Adlington pulled off a decisive move, an Ippon, to win gold. The only other Indian, Deepak Deswal, went down to Fiji's Tevita Takawaya in the men's 100kg repechage event.
India's Saurav Ghosal won bronze medal in squash men's singles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Squash: Saurav Wins Historic Men’s Singles Bronze
Ace Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal won a bronze medal in men’s singles after recording an easy 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 win over England’s James Willstrop.
With this win, the 35-year-old finally bagged his maiden Commonwealth Games (CWG) medal in singles category and also won India its first squash singles medal at the event.
Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu progressed to the pre-quarterfinals. The experienced pair downed Sri Lanka's Yeheni Kuruppu and Ravindu Laksiri 8-11, 11-4, 11-3.
Earlier in the day, Sunayna Kuruvilla defeated Fung-A-Fat of Guyana 11-7, 13-11, 11-2 in the women's squash singles plate final.
Indian weightlifter Gurdeep Singh won the bronze medal in the men's +109 kg weightlifting at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Weightlifting: Gurdeep, Lovepreet Bag Bronze Medals
Indian lifters Gurdeep Singh and Lovepreet Singh won a bronze medal each in the men’s 109+ kg and men's 109 kg respectively to continue the country's medal rush in weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games.
With Gurdeep’s medal, the Indian weightlifters have now won at total of 10 medals in Birmingham – one more than what they won in the 2018 edition at Gold Coast.
Gurpreet lifted a total of 390kg (167kg snatch, 223kg clean and jerk) to emerge third in his weight category while 24-year-old Lovpreet, lifted a personal best of 355 kg, including a new national record of 192 kg in clean and jerk, to finish third on the podium. He had earlier improved from 157kg to 163kg in his final attempt.
Purnima Pandey, on the other hand finished a disappointing sixth in the women's +87kg event at the Commonwealth Games. Pandey managed just two lifts, which is the bare minimum required to register a total, for an aggregate of 228kg (103kg+ 125kg) at the NEC.
The Indian women's cricket team celebrate a wicket in their group match against Barbados at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Cricket: Indian Beat Barbados, Qualify for Semi-Finals
Medium pacer Renuka Singh ran through Barbados' top order with a four-wicket haul as India beat their lowly opponents by 100 runs to qualify for the semifinals of the women's T20 cricket at the Commonwealth Games.
Invited to bat, India posted a competitive 162 for 4 on the back of a fine unbeaten half-century from Jemimah Rodrigues (56 not out off 46 balls) and a 26-ball 43 from opener Shafali Verma.
The Indians then restricted Barbados to 62 for 8 in 20 overs with Renuka bamboozling the Barbados batters with an impressive spell. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh and Radha Yadav chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Kyshona Knight was the top-scorer for Barbados with 16 while Shakera Selman made 12. Seven of their batters failed to reach double-digit figures.
With the win, India finished second behind Australia (6 points from 3 matches) in Group A with four points from two wins. They had beaten Pakistan and lost to Australia in their earlier matches. The semifinals will be played on Saturday.
India's Nikhat Zareen in action during her quarter-final bout at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
-(Photo: PTI)
Boxing: Nikhat, Nitu, Hussamuddin Reach Semis; Lovlina Knocked Out
Three Indian pugilists, including Nikhat Zareen, advanced to the semi-finals in their respective events after thrilling victories in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.
However, India suffered a setback as Lovlina Borgohain lost 3-2 to Rosie Eccles of Wales in the women’s over 66kg-70kg (light middle) quarterfinals. With their wins, Zareen (50kg), Nitu Ganghas (48kg), and Mohammed Hussamudin (57kg) assured India of three boxing medals.
Zareen produced a dominating 5-0 unanimous decision win over Helen Jones of Wales in the light flyweight quarterfinals. Hussamuddin defeated Tryagain Morning Ndevelo of Namibia in a 4-1 split verdict to advance to the semifinals of the men's 57kg and fetch his second consecutive CWG medal.
Earlier in the day, Nitu kick-started the proceedings as she showed her ferocity to demolish Northern Ireland's Nicole Clyde in the women's 48kg category and assure India their first boxing medal at the ongoing Games.
The Indian women's team members celebrate after scoring a goal against Canadaat the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Hockey: Indian Women Enter Semis, Men Thrash Canada 8-0
The Indian women's team beat a lower-ranked Canada 3-2 in its must-win Pool A match to qualify for the semi-finals while Harmanpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh scored a brace each as the Indian men's team completed an 8-0 rout of Canada to the top of Pool B of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
For the Indian women’s team, Salima Tete (3rd minute), Navneet Kaur (22nd), and Lalremsiami (51st) scored the goals. For Canada, Brienne Stairs (23rd) and Hannah Haughn (39th) were on the scoresheet.
In the men’s encounter, Harmanpreet (7th, 54th minute) converted two penalty corners while Akashdeep Singh (38th, 60th) scored two fine field goals. Amit Rohidas (10th), Lalit Upadhyay (20th), Gurjant Singh (27th) and Mandeep Singh (58th) were the other goal scorers for India.
With the win, India jumped to the top of the pool ahead of England. The Indian men play Wales in their final group match on Thursday.
Swimming: Advait, Kushagra Fail to Impress in Final
Indian swimmers Adavit Page and Kushagra Rawat finished second last and last respectively in the men’s 1500m freestyle final at the Commonwealth Games.
Page clocked a time of 15:32.36s to finish seventh while Rawat (15:42.67s) followed Page close behind at eight. With this, India's swimming challenge at the Games ended
Lawn Bowls: Borgohain Wins Two Matches, Mixed Day for Women’s Pair
India's Mridul Borgohain won both his men's singles matches while the women's pair of Lovely Choubey and Nayanmoni Saikia won one and drew another in the lawn bowl events of the Commonwealth Games.
Borgohain first humbled Chris Locke of Falkland Islands 21-5 in his second-round match and then beat Scotland's Iain McLean 21-19. Borgohain, who had lost the first round, will be up against Ross Davis on Thursday.
Choubey and Saikia defeated Hina Rereiti and Olivia Buckingham of Niue 23-6 but tied their round three match against South Africa 16-16.
Meanwhile, the men's fours team comprising Sunil Bahadur (lead), Navneet Singh (second), Chandan Kumar Singh (third) and Dinesh Kumar (skip) defeated Cook Islands 20-10 in round two for their second win. The Indians had earlier defeated Fiji and will now take on England.
The Indian women's triples team of Tania Choudhary (lead), Pinki (second) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (skip) defeated Niue 28-7 in the third round after losing to New Zealand and England.
(With inputs from PTI)
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