CWG 2018: Mirabai and Gururaja Lift India To Glory on Opening Day

Indian weight lifters Mirabai Chanu (left) and P Gururaja (right) in action at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj

Indian lifters Mirabai Chanu and P Gururaja claimed gold and silver respectively as weightlifters lived up to the pre-event hype by delivering opening-day medals for India while star badminton players added to the cheer by making a winning start in the 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia’s Gold Coast.

Chanu smashed the Commonwealth Games records in 48kg category snatch, clean and jerk and overall in her gold-medal winning performance, for which she got a thunderous applause from the Australian fans. Chanu managed to lift 196kg (86kg+110kg) in a remarkable effort.

Well, I thought I will win at least a medal, that was what was in my mind when I came here. But I had no idea that I would be able to win with a Commonwealth Games record. What I thought was if I give my best performance, then I should be able to win gold and also have a record.

Mirabai Chanu to AP

Everyone in the country was proud of Chanu for bringing the first gold for the country in this year’s games. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even sent out a congratulatory tweet saying that the nation is delighted by her achievements.

Earlier, P Gururaja survived a few anxious moments after two failed attempts in clean and jerk to claim a silver medal.

The 25-year-old son of a truck driver equalled his personal best of 249kg (111kg+138kg) to finish second in the event and ensure that India woke up to the news of a medal on the very first day of competitions.

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

M Raja (62kg) was the third weightlifter in contention on Thursday but he lost out to much superior competition and finished sixth overall with a total effort of 266kg (116kg+150kg).

However, weightlifting was not the only reason why India could boast of a good opening day. The Badminton players also made a winning start to their campaign, defeating Sri Lanka and Pakistan 5-0 respectively in the mixed team event matches.

India’s star shuttler, Saina Nehwal defeated her rival Madushika Beruelage in a mere 22 minutes.

She was later in action against Pakistan as well and was her usual clinical self against Mahoor Shahzad, claiming a straight-game triumph in 26 minutes to ensure that India had a winning day to celebrate.

Veteran Manoj Kumar (69kg) was the lone boxer in action and the 2010 CWG gold-medallist hammered Nigeria's Osita Umeh to move into the pre-quarterfinals. The former Asian medallist won on a unanimous decision.

On the squash court, Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinnappa, who would be defending their women's doubles gold medal, made winning starts in their singles competitions.

While Pallikal got the better of Trinidad and Tobago's Charlotte Knaggs, Chinnappa sailed past Papua and New Guinea’s Lynette Vai.

The table tennis players got past their initial hurdles rather easily with the women's team defeating Sri Lanka 3-0. The men's team blanked Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 before beating Northern Ireland by a similar margin.

(With inputs from AP and PTI)