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Day 8 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games saw six Indian wrestlers bagging medals.
Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia and Sakshi Malik have won gold medals. Anshu Malik bagged silver, while Divya Kakran and Mohit Grewal won bronze medals.
The Indian women's hockey team lose 3-0 in penalty shoot-out to Australia in the semi-final.
Hima Das could not qualify for the finals of women's 200m sprint.
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It's the second Friday of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and that means we're in the business end of the tournament. It also means the wrestling events finally will get underway in Birmingham and we have as many as six medal candidates fighting through the day today, with the medal rounds scheduled to start at 9pm IST.
There's also the big women's hockey semi-final later tonight.
Here's India's full schedule for Day 8 of the CWG
Athletics
Women's 100m Hurdles Round 1 - Heat 2: Jyothi Yarraji - 3.06pm
Women's Long Jump qualifying round - Group A: Ancy Edapilly - 4.10pm
Men's 4x400m relay round 1: 4.19pm
Women's 200m semi-final 2: Hima Das - 12.53am on Saturday
Badminton (Starts at 3:30 PM IST)
Women's doubles round of 16: Jolly Treesa/Pullela Gayatri Gopichand
Men's doubles round of 16: Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty
Women's singles round of 16: PV Sindhu
Women's singles round of 16: Akarshi Kashyap
Men's Singles round of 16: Kidambi Srikanth
Lawn Bowls
Women's Pair Quarter-finals: India versus England - 1 PM
Squash:
Men's doubles round of 16: Velavan Senthilkumar/ Abhay Singh - 5.15 PM
Mixed doubles quarterfinal: Dipika Pallikal/Sourav Ghosal - 12 AM (Saturday)
Table Tennis
Mixed Doubles round of 16: Sathiyan Gnansekaran/Manika Batra - 2 PM
Mixed Doubles round of 16: Achantha Sharath Kamal/Akula Sreeja - 2 PM
Women's singles round of 16: Sreeja Akula - 3.15 PM
Women's singles round of 16: Reeth Tennison - 3.15 PM
Hockey
Women's Semifinal: India versus Australia - 12:25AM
Wrestling (starts at 3:30 pm)
Men's Freestyle 125kg: Mohit Grewal
Men's Freestyle 65kg: Bajrang Punia
Men's Freestyle 86kg: Deepak Punia
Women's Freestyle 57kg: Anshu Malik
Women's Freestyle 68kg: Divya Kakran
Women's Freestyle 62kg: Sakshi Malik.
The mixed doubles table tennis teams of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja and also Gnanasekaran Sathiyan and Manika Batra have won their respective Round of 16 matches and are now through to the quarters.
Manika and Sathiyan's was the first match of the day and they defeated Nigeria's Omotayo Olajide and Ojomu Ajoke with a 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 scoreline.
Achanta Sharath Kamal and Akula Sreeja then joined them in the next round, defeating Malaysia's Leong Chee Feng and Ho Ying 5-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5.
The quarter-finals will be later tonight, starting 8:30pm IST.
Six Indian wrestlers in action today and Bajrang Punia has got the team's campaign underway with a 4-0 win over Bingham Lowe of Nauru. The 65kg category defending champion needed just two minutes to close the Round of 16 victory.
Bajrang's quarter-final bout will be later today against Jean Mauritius' Guyliane Joris Bandou, a former two-time silver and two-time bronze CWG medallist.
There are five more wrestlers competing today - Deepak Punia (86kg), Mohit Grewal (125kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Sakshi Malik (62kg) and Divya Kakran (68kg).
Jyothi Yarraji has finished fourth in her 100m hurdles heat and won’t be progressing onto the next round. She finished with a time of 13.18seconds while the Jamaica’s Megan Tapper, the winner of the heat, finished in 12.68seconds.
Deepak Punia, another wrestling gold medal favourite, has also progressed to the quarters, with a 10-0 win over New Zealand's Matthew Oxenham.
Plenty of action from multiple sports is underway currently. From table tennis, we have some disappointing updates as Reeth Tennison lost her women's singles round of 16 fixture. She suffered a 2-11, 4-11, 11-9, 3-11, 4-11 defeat against Singapore’s Tianwein Feng.
On the other hand, Sreeja Akula is currently playing her round of 16 match against Wales’ Charlotte Carey. The game is currently tied at 3-3.
Wrestling action has temporarily been put on hold, as we await quarter-final fixtures of four Indian wrestlers following Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia's victories.
As for the upcoming events in wrestling, Sakshi Malik (women’s 62kg), Anshu Malik (women’s 57kg), Mohit Grewal (men’s 125kg) and Divya Kakran (women’s 68kg) will compete in their respective quarter-final matches soon.
The Indian men's 4*400m relay team has qualified for the finals after finishing second in their heat round, with a timing of 3:06.97. The final will take place on August 7 at 1am IST.
The young women's doubles badminton pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand has breezed into the quarter-finals, after winning their round of 16 match without breaking a sweat.
They defeated Mauritius’ Jemimah Leung For Sang and Ganesha Mungrah 21-2, 21-4. In the quarter-finals, they will take on Jamaica’s Tahlia Richardson and Katherine Wynter. The match will take place on August 6.
We have some updates regarding the delay in wrestling matches. According to reports, security checks are currently ongoing at the Coventry Arena after a speaker fell from the ceiling. The crowd has subsequently been evacuated.
United World Wrestling have confirmed on Twitter that action will resume at 5:15pm IST.
Four matches were running simultaneously in table tennis, and we have positive updates from all of those games.
Men’s doubles pair of Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran have beaten Bangladesh’s Ramhimlian Bawn and Mohutasin Ahmed Ridoy 11-8, 11-1, 11-4 to qualify for the quarter-finals, while Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty have done the same, handing Dillon Chambers and Xin Yan a 11-3, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 defeat.
Meanwhile, Sreeja Akula has emerged victorious in her women’s singles round of 16 clash. She defeated Wales’ Charlotte Carey 8-11 11-7, 12-14, 9-11, 11-4, 15-13, 12-10.
Like Sreeja, four-time Commonwealth Games medallist Manika Batra has also made it through to the quarter-finals of women’s singles table tennis. She had an easy 11-4, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10 victory against Australia’s Minhyung Jee.
More good news from table tennis!
The women’s doubles pair of Manika Batra and Diya Chitale has qualified for the round of 16 after beating Trinidad & Tobago’s Rheann Chung and Catherine Spicer 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.
Meanwhile, Sharath Kamal Achanta is playing his men’s singles round of 32 match against Finn Luu. He has won the first two games against his Australian opponent.
Alright, we have a new possible time of resumption for the wresting bouts. According to the United World Wrestling, the wrestlers have started warming up and matches should resume from 6pm.
While we await further updates regarding the wrestling bouts, the Indian paddlers are doing a sublime job today. After winning his men's doubles tie alongside partner Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sharath Kamal Achanta has now won his men's singles round of 32 tie, beating Australia's Fin Luu 12-10, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.
Badminton ace Kidambi Srikanth has qualified for the quarter-finals of men's singles without breaking a sweat. In his round of 16 tie, Srikanth defeated Sri Lanka’s Dumindu Abeywickrama 21-9, 21-12.
The three-time Commonwealth Games medallist will now take on England’s Toby Penty on August 6.
Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia have started their Commonwealth Games 2022 campaigns with victories, and Anshu Malik will be the third Indian wrestler to feature today. The 21-year-old youngster will be taking on Australia's Irene Symeonidis in women's freestyle 57kg quarter-finals.
Anshu Malik has taken all but 64 seconds to beat Australia's Irene Symeonidis 10-0 and subsequently qualify for the semi-finals of women's 57kg freestyle wrestling. In her next match, she will be up against Sri Lanka's Nethmi Purothotage.
Meanwhile, we now shift our attention from one 'Malik' to another. Sakshi Malik will be taking on England's Kelsey Barnes in women's 62kg quarter-finals.
As many would have expected, Sakshi Malik made light work of her English opponent, Kelsey Barnes, to storm into the semi-finals of women's 62kg freestyle wrestling.
In a bout that lasted 69 seconds, Sakshi secured an easy 10-0 victory.
The Indian wrestlers continue putting up an exemplary display of their calibre at the Commonwealth Games, as Mohit Grewal becomes the fourth wrestler from his nation to make it to the semi-finals.
Grewal beats Cyprus' Alexios Kaouslidis 10-1 via VP01 to progress to the last four in men's 125kg freestyle category.
India's winning streak in wrestling here at the Coventry Arena is now broken, as Divya Kakran loses against Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu.
The bronze medallist at 2018 Commonwealth Games suffered a 0-11 defeat via VSU. She will now have to hope Blessing qualifies for the final, which will allow her to fight for the bronze medal through repechage.
While we focus on wrestling bouts, there is a positive update from badminton. PV Sindhu has defeated Uganda's Husina Kobugabe 21-10, 21-9 to cruise into the women's singles quarter-finals.
Deepak Punia has won his second wrestling bout of the day to qualify for the semi-finals in men's 86kg freestyle category. He defeated Sierra Leone's Sheku Kassegbama 10-0 via VSU.
As five Indian wrestlers prepare for their semi-final bouts, we bring you updates from table tennis.
Sanil Shetty has won 12-10, 14-12, 11-4, 11-5 against Ghana's Derek Abrefa in the round of 32 of men's singles, while in the same round, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran defeated Northern Ireland's Paul McCreery 11-9, 11-9, 12-10, 13-11.
With the quarter-finals done and dusted, it is now time for the semis. Check out the fixtures of the five Indian wrestlers who have made it through to this stage:
Anshu Malik vs Nethmi Poruthotage (SRI) – Women’s freestyle 57kg
Deepak Punia vs Alexander Moore (CAN) – Men’s freestyle 86kg
Sakshi Malik vs Berthe Emilienne Etane Ngolle (CMR) – Women’s freestyle 62kg
Bajrang Punia vs George Ramm (ENG) – Men’s freestyle 65kg
Mohit Grewal vs Amarveer Dhesi (CAN) – Men’s freestyle 125kg
Anshu Malik and Sakshi Malik have both emerged victorious in their semi-final contests to guarantee two wrestling medals for India.
Sakshi defeated Cameroon's Berthe Emilienne Etane Ngolle 10-0 in a bout that lasted only 62 seconds, while Anshu Malik's bout against Sri Lanka's Nethmi Poruthotage lasted a couple of seconds more. There was, however, no change in the outcome, as she too secured a 10-0 win.
At the moment, it is pouring medals for India, courtesy of the nation's exemplary wrestlers. After Sakshi and Anshu, Bajrang Punia has also guaranteed a medal by qualifying for the final of men's freestyle 65kg, beating England's George Ramm 10-0 in a match that lasted 91 seconds.
Deepak Punia extended India’s wrestling streak by assuring a fourth medal, as he defeated Canada’s Alexander Moore 3-1 in the semi-finals of men’s freestyle 86kg category.
On the contrary, Mohit Grewal suffered a defeat in the bout against his Canadian opponent, Amarveer Dhesi. The former lost 2-12 via VSU1, and he will now compete for a bronze medal.
It has been a rewarding day for the Indian contingent so far, with four wrestlers assuring medals and two others set to feature in bronze medal bouts.
Check out the final fixtures of the six wrestlers in order of the matches:
Anshu Malik vs Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye (NGR) – Women’s freestyle 57kg final
Bajrang Punia vs Lachlan McNeil (CAN) – Men’s freestyle 65kg final
Sakshi Malik vs Ana Godinez Gonzalez (CAN) – Women’s freestyle 62kg final
Deepak Punia vs Muhammad Inam (PAK) – Men’s freestyle 86kg final
Divya Kakran vs Tiger Lilly Cocker Lemalie (TGA) – Women’s freestyle 68kg bronze medal match
Mohit Grewal vs Aaron Johnson (JAM) – Men’s freestyle 125kg bronze medal match
We will be back at 9:30, hopefully to report on multiple medal triumphs.
We are back! Six Indian wresters will soon be fighting for medals, but before we turn out attention to wrestling, there are some updates from table tennis
The mixed doubles pair of Sharath Kamal Achanta and Sreeja Akula has qualified for the quarter-finals after beating Malaysia’s Chee Feng Leong and Ying Ho 5-11. 11-2. 11-6, 11-5
On the contrary, Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s pair is out of medal contention, as they suffered a 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 7-11, 7-11 defeat against Javen Choong and Karen Lyne.
Anshu Malik is currently up against Nigeria's Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye in the gold medal contest of women's 57kg freestyle category.
Anshu Malik wins the silver medal after losing the 57kg final to Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye.
The 21-year-old, who is celebrating her birthday today, suffered a 3-7 defeat against her Nigerian opponent in the women's 57kg freestyle final.
Anshu becomes India's 21st medallist at the Commonwealth Games 2022 and eighth silver medallist.
Bajrang Punia will be the next Indian wrestler to feature. The 28-year-old is taking on Canada's Lachlan McNeil in the final of men's freestyle 65kg category.
Bajrang Punia has defeated Lachlan McNeil to bag India’s first wrestling gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist successfully defended his men's freestyle 65kg title by beating his Canadian opponent 9-2 to earn India’s 22nd medal, and seventh gold medal, at Birmingham.
Four Indian wrestlers are yet to compete in their medal bouts, but before that, we have updates from table tennis.
Sreeja Akula and Reeth Tennison have defeated Scotland's Rebecca Plaistow and Lucy Elliott 11-4, 11-5, 11-2 to qualify for the round of 16 of women's doubles.
After Bajrang, Sakshi Malik will be aiming to add a second gold medal to India's wrestling tally at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 29-year-old will take on Canada's Ana Godinez Gonzalez in the final of women's 62kg category.
Yet another gold medal in wrestling for India!
Sakshi Malik overturned a deficit to beat Canada’s Ana Godinez Gonzalez via VFA (Victory By Fall) in women's freestyle 62kg final to win India's second wrestling gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
She becomes India's 23rd gold medallist at the Birmingham Games, and eighth gold medallist.
With two gold and a silver medal bagged, the focus now shifts to Deepak Punia. The 23-year-old will be competing in the gold medal match of men's freestyle 86kg category, against Pakistan's Muhammad Inam.
Deepak Punia becomes the third Indian wrestler to bag a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
The four-time Asian Wrestling Championship medallist defeated Pakistan's Muhammad Inam 3-0 to join Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik on the list of India's gold medal-winning wrestlers.
The 24-year-old became India's 24th medallist at the Birmingham Games, and ninth gold medallist.
The four gold medal matches are now over, but two Indian wrestlers are yet to compete in their medal bouts.
Next up, it is the turn of Divya Kakran, who will take on Tonga's Tiger Lily Cocker Lemalie in the bronze medal match of women's freestyle 68kg category.
Another medal in wrestling for India, and this time, it is bronze. Divya Kakran defeated Tonga’s Tiger Lily Cocker Lemalie in only 26 seconds via VFA (Victory by Fall) to win the bronze medal in women's 68kg freestyle category.
Divya becomes India's 25th medallist at the Commonwealth Games 2022, and fifth medallist among the wrestlers.
Five of the six Indian wrestlers who featured on Friday have been able to win medals, and Mohit Grewal will be aiming to complete the streak when he takes on Jamaica's Aaron Johnson in the bronze medal match of men's freestyle 105kg category.
Mohit Grewal has defeated Jamaica's Aaron Johnson via VFA (Victory by Fall) in the bronze medal match of men's freestyle 125kg category.
Mohit's triumph means all six Indian wrestlers who featured on Friday have been able to win medals. Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia and Sakshi Malik won gold, Anshu Malik bagged the silver medal, while Divya Kakran and Mohit secured bronze medals.
Courtesy of the wrestlers' remarkable display, India's medal tally at the Birmingham Games has risen from 20 to 26 in a span of three hours.
With the first day of India's wrestling campaign at the Commonwealth Games 2022 turning out to be a grand success, it is time to shift our attention to badminton.
Like the wrestlers, the Indian shuttlers also did a commendable job on Friday. Lakshya Sen defeated Australia’s Ying Xiang Lin 21-9, 21-16 to qualify for the quarter-finals of men’s singles, while Aakarshi Kashyap made it through to the quarter-finals of women’s singles beating Cyprus’ Eva Kattirtzi 21-2, 21-7.
In the men’s doubles category, the iconic pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chriag Shetty defeated Pakistan’s Murad Ali and Muhammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti 21-7, 21-8.
The Indian squash contingent was not able not do a clean sweep like their badminton and wrestling counterparts.
The men’s doubles pair of Velavan Senthilkumar and Abhay Singh managed to qualify for the quarter-finals by beating Scotland’s Douglass Kempsell and Alan Clyne 11-8, 11-10, 11-8.
However, the women’s doubles pair of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal suffered a defeat in their quarter-final tie, losing out 2-11, 7-11 against Malaysia’s Yiwen Chan and Ainaa Ampandi.
India's star sprinter, Hima Das narrowly missed out on qualification for the finals of women's 200m sprint.
She finished third in her heat round with a timing of 23.42 seconds - just 0.01 seconds behind the second-placed sprinter, Ella Connolly.
While the two fastest sprinters from each round in heat will gain automatic qualification, two other fastest sprinters among those who don't qualify automatically will also make it to the playoffs.
However, with Gina Bass and Jacinta Beecher registering better timings than Hima in Heat 1, the 22-year-old's individual campaign has come to an end. She will now feature in the women's 4*100m relay event on August 7.
Meanwhile, in their ongoing semi-final match against Australia, the Indian women's hockey team is trailing 1-0 at the end of the first quarter. The ball possession statistics show both teams being evenly balanced at 50-50, but the lion's share of attacks were created by the Aussies.
The defence of Janneke Schopman's team was broken by Rebecca Greiner in the 10th minute.
The Indian women still trail Australia by one goal in the third quarter of the women's hockey semi-final. India received a penalty corner in the second quarter but the shot from Lalremsiami was saved by the Australian goalkeeper Aleisha Power.
Meanwhile, Indian paddler Sharath Kamal has progressed into the semi-finals of the men's doubles and mixed doubles events, and the quarterfinals of singles resepctively.
The 40-year-old entered the men's singles quarterfinals after beating Nigeria's Olajide Omotayo 4-2 in a thrilling contest. Sharath also combined with G Sathiyan to beat English pair of Tom Jarvis and Sam Walker 3-0 (11-6 11-8 11-4) in men's doubles quarters.
Earlier in the day, Sharath and young Sreeja Akula had stunned two-time silver medallists Liam Pitchford and Tin-Tin Ho of England in mixed doubles quarters.
Another Indian paddler, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, also reached the men's singles quarters, beating Nicholas Lum 4-2 at the NEC Hall. However, Sanil Shetty lost 2-4 to Nigeria's Bode Abiodun.
India suffered another setback as defending champion Manika Batra crashed out of women's singles after suffering a 0-4 defeat against Jian Zeng of Singapore in the quarterfinal.
As we turn back our attention to the women's hockey semi-final, Vandana Katariya has brought India back into the game in the fourth quarter with an equaliser in the 49th minute.
With the scores tied at 1-1 after normal time, the game has now progressed to penatly shoot-out. Both India and Australia gear up to take the crucial shots that will secure them a berth in the women's hockey final.
The Indian women's hockey team have suffered a 3-0 loss to Australia via penalty shoot-out and will now face New Zealand in the bronze medal match at 1:30pm IST on Sunday.
For India, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur and Neha failed to score as Australia's plan to bring in reserve keeper Jocelyn Bartram worked in their team's favour.
The Australians, meanwhile, found the back of the net through Ambrosis Malone, Kaitlin Nobbs and Amy Lawton.