Indian wrestlers made superb starts at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games today. Star grappler Sushil Kumar in 74 kg category and Rahul Aware in 57 kg stormed into the Finals, assuring India of at least two Silver medals.
While Sushil defeated Aussie Connor Evans, Rahul beat Pakistan’s Muhammad Bilal. Babita Kumari, who is figuring in 53 kg, also registered easy preliminary round victories to strengthen her chances of a medal. However, Kiran in the Women’s 76 kg category lost her last-4 bout. She is still in contention to win a bronze through repechage.
Besides the grapplers, Indian shooters will look to add to India’s medals tally today. Anjum Moudgil and Tejaswini Sawant will be seen in action in the Women’s 50 metre Rifle Prone Finals. In Stage 1 of the Qualification of the Men’s 25-metre Rapid Fire Pistol event, Neeraj Kumar finished at the top, Anish was third. Of India’s 24 medals, so far, shooters have won 11 – 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze.
In Men’s Triple Jump, Arpinder Singh and AV Rakesh Babu qualified to the Finals. Women Discus Throwers Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon will feature in the Finals later today, while Nayana James and Nellickal Neena will be trying their luck in the Women’s Long Jump. In Women’s Hockey, India will take on Australia in the semi-finals. All India Radio will broadcast live commentary on the match. It can be heard on the Rajdhani, FM Gold and other channels from 4:40 pm onwards.
In Table Tennis, India made three out of three in Mixed Doubles event. Sanil Shetty and Madhurika Patkar and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra have joined Achanta Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das in the quarter-finals. In Badminton, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will play their pre-quarterfinal matches today. The teams of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy have progressed to the last-8. India is currently third in the medals tally, with 12 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze. Australia continues to be at the top, with England second.
