Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli both stamped their authority on their weightlifting events as they put up record-breaking performances to bag gold medals on Sunday at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The two golds take India's medal tally to five, with a total of six medals, including three golds, two silver and one bronze.
19-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga was the first to bag his gold on Sunday, emerging the winner in the men’s 67kg weightlifting event while Sheuli won his in the 73kg event.
India also found success in badminton, table tennis, cricket and hockey on an all round successful day for the contingent.
Missed the action on Sunday? Here's a wrap of all the big results:
Maiden CWG Medals for Jeremy & Achinta
19-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga fought mid-competition cramps on his way to the gold medal in the 67kg category.
The reigning Youth Olympic champion first bettered the Snatch CWG record with a successful 140kg attempt and then lifted 160kg in Clean and Jerk to take his aggregate to 300kg, which is a new Games record in the men's 67kg competition.
A massive 7kg difference from his nearest rival Samoa's Vaipava Ioane (127kg +166kg) summed up his dominance.
The last Indian in action on Sunday, Achinta Sheuli (73kg) lived up to his top billing as he clinched India's third gold of this Commonwealth Games.
Debutant Sheuli heaved 313kg (143kg+170kg) to grab the gold at the NEC Hall. Malaysia's Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who gave Sheuli a tough competition, ended as the second best lifter in the event. He had a best effort of 303kg (138kg+165kg). Canada's Shad Darsigny was third with a total lift of 298kg (135kg+163kg).
Meanwhile, Poppy who hails from Assam lifted a total of 183kg (81kg+102kg) to manage just a seventh-place finish in the women’s 59kg. It was the first of the six weightlifting events so far that didn't yield a medal for India.
Smriti Excels as India Beat Pakistan by 8 wickets
An unbeaten 63 off 42 balls from opener Smriti Mandhana and two wickets each for Sneh Rana (2/15) and Radha Yadav (2/18) helped India beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the rain-hit women’s Group A match of the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan were bundled out for a mere 99 runs as spinners Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav excelled with the ball as the match was reduced to 18 overs a side affair due to rain.
Meanwhile, Renuka Singh (1/20), Meghna Singh (1/21) and Shafali Verma (1/8) claimed one wicket each for the Indians. Opener Muneeba Ali top-scored for Pakistan with a 30-ball 32. In reply, Smriti Mandhana smashed an unbeaten 63 to take India home safely in 11.4 overs with eight wickets still in hand and also register her side’s first win in the Commonwealth Games.
India Enter Semis in Badminton Mixed Team Event
India continued their winning streak in badminton as they progressed into the semi-finals of the mixed team event with a 3-0 win over South Africa at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The Indians had earlier qualified for the quarterfinals after topping Group A with identical 5-0 wins over Pakistan and Sri Lanka and a 4-1 victory over the Australians respectively.
India Men’s Hockey Team Win CWG Opener Against Ghana
The Indian men's hockey team decimated lowly Ghana 11-0 in its opening Pool B match of the Commonwealth Games.
As expected, the Indians were relentless in their attacks and completely controlled the proceedings from start to finish. The Indians played to their strength and scored five in the first half before pumping in four and two goals in the last two quarters.
India converted six out of 13 penalty corners they earned in the match. Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh (11th, 35th, 53rd) scored a hat-trick, while Abhishek (2nd minute), Shamsher Singh (14th), Akashdeep Singh (20th), Jugraj Singh (22nd, 43rd), Nilakanta Sharma (38th), Varun Kumar (39th) and Mandeep Singh (48th) were the other goal getters for India. India will next play England on Monday.
Men’s TT Team Thrash Bangladesh 3-0, Enter Semis
India men’s table tennis team secured a semi-final spot with an easy 3-0 victory over Bangladesh in the quarter-final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Indians will next face Nigeria in the semi-final on Monday while England will take on Singapore in the other last-four encounter. India had earlier cruised into the quarterfinals with identical 3-0 victories over Barbados, Singapore, and Northern Ireland respectively in their group matches.
Nikhat Storms Into Quarter-Finals, Shiva Thapa Crashes Out
World champion Nikhat Zareen sailed into the women's 50kg quarter-finals but it was curtains for Shiva Thapa as he crashed out of the men's 63.5kg round of 16 boxing competition at the Commonwealth Games.
While Zareen knocked out Helena Ismael Bagao of Mozambique to storm into the last-eight round of the women's ightweight category winning by RSC (Refree stopping the contest), Thapa lost 1-4 to World Championship bronze medallist Scotland's Reese Lynch to make a disappointing exit from the Games.
Zareen will next face reigning Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Troy Garton of New Zealand in the quarterfinals, where a win will secure her podium finish.
Joshna, Saurav Enter Squash Singles Quarterfinals
Ace Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa outwitted New Zealand's Kaitlyn Watts 3-1 while Saurav Ghosal recorded an easy 3-0 win over Canada’s David Baillargeon to progress to the women's and men’s singles quarterfinals respectively at the Commonwealth Games.
The 18-time national champion kept her calm to recover from a mid-game slump to prevail 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6 against Watts to set up a last-eight clash with Canada's Hollie Naughton. Saurav, on the other hand, looked in complete control as he decimated his Canadian opponent 11-6, 11-2, 11-6.
Swimmer Srihari Qualifies for Semi-finals
Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj qualified for the semifinals of men's 50m backstroke event at the Commonwealth Games.
Nataraj clocked 25.52 seconds to qualify for his second consecutive semi-finals of the Games. The 21-year-old clocked 25.52s to emerge as the second fastest in his heat and eighth fastest overall. His timing was 0.57s behind Pieter Coetze of South Africa, who topped the qualifiers.
The seasoned Sajan Prakash, on the other hand, finished as the first reserve for the 200m butterfly event. Prakash finished fourth in his heat after clocking 1:58:99s and was put on the reserve list as he was the ninth fastest swimmer overall. The top eight move to the final.
Prakash and Kieren Pollard from Australia clocked the same time leading to a swim off. Prakash then produced a timing of 1:58.31 to win the swim off between the two to become the first reserve. In case any one of the eight finalists cannot take the pool or withdraw from the final race, Prakash will take his place.
Ronaldo Loses in Cycling Men’s Sprint Pre-quarterfinals
Top Indian cyclist Ronaldo Laitonjam lost to Australia's Matthew Glaetzer in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's sprint event at the Commonwealth Games.
The 20-year-old Indian finished 0.162s behind Glaetzer, clocking 10.011s over the 200m distance. Laitonjam had earlier finished 13th in the qualifying round after clocking 10.012 at the Lee Valley Velo Park here. His teammates David Beckham (10.120) and Esow Alben (10.361) finished 18th and 23rd in the qualifying round.
Yogeshwar 15th, Ruthuja 17th in Gymnastics All-Around Finals
Indian gymnasts Yogeshwar Singh and Ruthuja Nataraj signed off at 15th and 17th spots in the men's and women's all-around finals of the artistic gymnastic event respectively at the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.
While Haryana's Yogeshwar, who had participated in three World Championships, finished with an overall score of 74.700, 19-year-old Ruthuja scored 43.000 to end at the last spot.
Yogeshwar was the lone Indian male gymnast to qualify for the all-around final after his teammates Saif Tamboli and Satyajit Mondal narrowly missed out.
Tough Day for Indian Triathlon Mixed Relay Team
India finished 10th in the triathlon mixed team relay final of the Commonwealth Games.
The Indian quartet of Adarsh Muralidharan Nair Sinimol, Pragnya Mohan, Vishwanath Yadav, and Sanjana Sunil Joshi clocked a total time of 1:31:43 in the three-event competition. India were 15:03 behind gold winner England (1:16:40). Wales and Australia won silver and bronze respectively.
Indian Lawn Bowl Women’s Fours Team in Semis
Indian women's fours team qualified for the semifinals of the lawn bowls competition after defeating Norfolk Island at the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.
The Indian quartet of Lovely Choubey (lead), Pinki (second), Nayanmoni Saikia (third) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (skip) won 17-9 in the quarterfinal match. The four will play against New Zealand in the semifinal on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the Indian men's pair of Dinesh Kumar and Sunil Bahadur defeated England to advance to the quarter-finals. Dinesh Kumar (skip) and Sunil Bahadur (lead) won 18-15.
Tania Choudhary defeated Shauna O'Neill of Northern Ireland 21-12 to record a consolation win in women's singles competition. She had already bowed out of competition.
(With inputs from PTI)
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