CWG 2018 at Gold Coast: Saina gets India Gold in badminton, now tally at 19

Commonwealth Games 2018 Day 5: Jitu Rai won gold and Om bronze in 10m Air Pistol final. Pardeep Singh bagged silver in men's 105kg weightlifting. India's medal tally in CWG 2018 currently stands at 15

India's gold rush at the Commonwealth Games 2018 being held in Gold Coast continued on Monday as ace shuttler Saina Nehwal of the Indian badminton contingent beat Malaysia in the finals to clinch the Gold medal, taking India's tally to 19. 

Kidambi Srikanth, Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa all won a match each to guide India power past Lee Chong Wei-spearheaded Malaysia which was winning gold since the 2006 CWG.

India's gold medal match began on a strong note, with Satwik and Ashwini defeating Liu Ying Goh and Peng Soon Chan 21-14, 15-21, 21-15 in an hour and five minutes to make it 1-0. It was a crucial win considering Malaysia possess strong doubles pairs.

World Number 2 Srikanth shone bright with a 21-17, 21-14 win over veteran Chong Wei in 43 minutes to hand India a 2-0 lead.

Saina Nehwal, Ashwini Ponnappa, N. Sikki Reddy, Srikanth Kidambi, Satwik Rankireddy, Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty were on the team.

India also clinched a historic gold in men's table tennis, thrashing Nigeria 3-0 in the final of the event. 

India clinched a historic gold in men's table tennis, thrashing Nigeria 3-0 in the final of the event at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Monday.

After beating Singapore in the semi-finals earlier on Monday, the Indian team continued their dominance in the final, by winning all the first three matches to comfortably clinch the gold.

Seasoned paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal gave India an early 1-0 lead with a thumping 4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 comeback win over Bode Abiodun in the first singles match of the contest.

After going down meekly in the first game, Kamal brought all his experience into play and went on to thrash the Nigerian in three successive games to pocket the tie.

Star marksman Jitu Rai won gold with a masterful performance even as fellow shooters Om Mitharwal, Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela boosted the Indian medals tally at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Monday.

Jitu stamped his class on the men's 10m Air Pistol final, to post a wire to wire victory at the Belmont Shooting Centre. Jitu created a new CWG record of 235.1 in the final to win the gold. Kerry Bell of Australia took silver with 233.5. This was Jitu's second gold medal at the CWG. He had won the 50m title at the 2014 Games in in Glasgow, Scotland.

Om bagged the bronze for India with 214.3. Playing in his first CWG, Om performed brilliantly throughout the day, exiting after the 22nd shot of the 24-shot final. A day before, women formed the core of India's stupendous day at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Golad Coast, Australia, where a 16-year-old Manu Bhaker delivered a record-shattering shooting gold medal. The table tennis team, meanwhile, stunned the fancied defending champions Singapore to clinch the top honours for the first time at the event. M C Mary Kom advanced to the medal rounds in her first and probably last appearance at the Games. India moved up a rank to the third position in medal ranking, having claimed eight gold, four silver and five bronze medals so far. A distant silver-medallist in the event also happened to be a woman — Heena Sidhu for shooting. In weightlifting, again, Punam Yadav (69kg) pulled off a personal best of 222kg to improve the bronze she had won in the 2014 edition, in the process adding another gold to India's haul. In hockey, Indian eves stunned Olympic champions England in its third pool match for a 2-1 victory, which took them closer to a semifinal berth.

India's basketball teams, however, suffered their third consecutive group-stage match loss to exit the 21st commonwealth Games without a win on Sunday. The Indian men lost to Scotland 81-96 while the women lost their third group-stage match to New Zealand 55-90 at the Cairns Convention Centre. The women's table tennis team of Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das beat Singapore 3-1 for a historic maiden gold. In badminton, Saina Nehwal remained in good form and guided India to a 3-1 triumph over Singapore in the mixed team event.

In track-and-field events, shot-putter Tejinder Singh made it to the finals, while Mohammed Anas Yahiya topped his 400m heat to book a slot in the semifinals.

Here are the top 10 developments around Commonwealth Games 2018, India's performance, and schedule for the CWG events:

1. Mixed team Badminton Final: India's Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Malaysia's Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh 21-14, 15-21, 21-15 to give India 1-0 lead in the mixed team gold medal badminton match.

Weightlifting: Pardeep Singh bagged silver in men's 105kg weightlifting. This is India's 13th medal overall at the Games.

Malaysia wins men's doubles, India still leads 2-1: Malaysia does it! Wins the first match on the final day in men's doubles, as Satwik-Chirag go down 21-15, 21-19. India still lead 2-1 in badminton mixed-team event

Another Indian weightlifter is in the battle. In Men's 105 kg Final, Gurdeep Singh has lifted 175 kg in the snatch event.

2. Shooting: Mehuli Ghosh won silver medal for the Women's 10m Air Rifle Final. Compatriot Apurvi Chandela bagged bronze. The 25-year-old broke her own Games qualification record of 415.6 she set in Glasgow in 2014. Shooter Smit disappoints in men's skeet final: Smit Singh flunked in the final of shooting men's skeet competition, finishing a disappointing sixth at the 21st Commonwealth Games. Smit paid the price for a sluggish start and was the first to be eliminated from the six-man final after managing a lowly 15 out of 20.

3. In Boxing Kaushik, Solanki enter CWG quarters: India's Manish Kaushik and Gaurav Solanki on Monday entered the quarter-finals of their respective weight categories in men's boxing competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games being held in Gold Coast, Australia. Kaushik beat a strong initial challenge before getting the better of Michael Alexander of Trinidad and Tobago in the round of 16 stage of the lightweight (60 kg) category.

4. Jitu Rai, Om bag gold and bronze respectively in 10m Air Pistol final: Jitu Rai bagged Gold for India and shooter Om Mitharval equalled the Commonwealth Games (CWG) record on his way to qualifying for the final of the men's 10m Air Pistol event on Monday. Om shot 584 in the qualifying round to equal the meet record set by fellow Indian Samaresh Jung at the 2006 CWG in Melbourne.

Lawn bowls: India's Lovely Choubey and Rupa Rani Tirkey beat Wales duo of Laura Daniels and Jessica Sims 20-16 in lawn bowls women's Pairs Sectional Play first round at the 21st Commonwealth Games.

Athletics: Tejaswin Shankar clears 2.21m in his second attempt in Men's High Jump Qualifying Round (Group A)

5. Gold Coast CWG medal tally after Day 4 competitions: Top-10 positions in the medal tally after Day 4 of the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Sunday. The list is in the order of rank, nation, gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal and total medals.

Infogram

6. SV Sunil shines as Indian men's hockey team beat Wales: SV Sunil ensured India's victory in the 59th minute and beat Wales 4-3 in a dramatic encounter at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Sunday. It was a must-win game for India, having drawn 1-1 to Pakistan and losing 0-3 to Malaysia in the previous two Pool B matches.

Dilpreet Singh (16), Mandeep Singh (28'), Harmanpreet Singh (57') were the other goal scorers for India. For Wales, Gareth Furlong scored a hat-trick to snatch India's lead on three occasions (17', 45' and 58'), converting three out of the four penalty corners for Wales. India will take on Malaysia in their next Pool B match.

7. President Kovind, PM Modi laud Indians for CWG victory: President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday lauded the Indian women's table tennis team for their victory. "Congratulations to the Golden Girls - Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar, and Mouma Das - for bagging India's first ever Women's Table Tennis Team GOLD at Commonwealth Games. Stupendous achievement," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his "delight" on the achievement. Taking to Twitter, Prime Minister Modi said, "A well deserved and historic Gold for the Indian women's Table Tennis team! Congratulations to the team. Delighted at this accomplishment."

The Indian women table tennis team staged a winning show on Day 4 of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as they defeated defending champions Singapore 3-1 to claim gold. This is India's first ever gold at the multi-sport event. They had earlier appeared in the finals at the home edition of the Games in 2010, and finished fourth in the Glasgow Games.

8. Mary Kom assured of medal at CWG: On her debut at the Commonwealth Games, World champion M.C. Mary Kom (48kg) booked India a medal in boxing after defeating Scotland's Megan Gordon and advancing to the semi-final at the Gold coast on Sunday. Olympic medallist Mary Kom registered a comfortable 5-0 win over her 18-year-old opponent in the women's 48 kg category at the Oxenford Boxing studios. She will next face Sri Lanka's Anusha Dilrukshi in the last four on April 11.

9. Winless Indian basketball teams exit: India's basketball teams suffered their third consecutive group stage match losses to exit the 21st commonwealth Games without a win on Sunday. The Indian men lost to Scotland 81-96 while the women lost their third group stage match to New Zealand 55-90 at the Cairns Convention Centre. In the boys category, India failed to match the quality and pace of Scotland and got bowed out of the meet. Aravind Annadurai (27 baskets) and Amjyot Gill (26) were the major contributors for India.

10. Sajan fails to qualify for men's 100 butterfly final: Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the finals of men's 100m butterfly after finishing fifth in the semifinals of swimming competition at the 21st Commonwealth games on Saturday.

Prakash clocked 54.12 seconds in semifinal 2, while England's James Guy (52.34), South Africa's Chad Le Clos (52.56) and Canada's Josiah Binnema (53.41) took the first three spots respectively. Prakash had earlier managed 54.11 seconds in the heats to finish behind Australia's Grant Irvine, who produced a timing of 53.89 at the Optus Aquatic Centre.

India's CWG schedule for Monday

Following is India's schedule on Day 5 of competitions at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Monday.

BADMINTON Mixed Team Event Gold Medal Match India vs Malaysia (13:01 IST)

TABLE TENNIS Men's Team Semifinal India vs Singapore (5:00 IST)

ATHLETICS 

Men's High Jump Qualifying Round - Group A Tejaswin Shankar (5:50 IST) 

Women's 400m Round 1 - Heat 1 Poovamma Raju Machettira (6:00 IST) 

Women's 400m Round 1 - Heat 5 Hima Das (6:28 IST) 

Men's 400m Semifinal 3 Muhammed Anas Yahiya (15:42 IST) 

Men's Shot Put Final Tejinder Singh (15:55 IST) 

Women's 10,000m Final Loganathan Suriya (16:05 IST) 

SWIMMING Men's 200m Backstroke Heat 2 Srihari Nataraj (6:05 IST) 

Men's 50m Freestyle Heat 6 Virdhawal Khade (6:45 IST)

Men's Fours Section B - Round 1 India vs South Africa (12:31 IST) 

Women's Triples Section A - Round 1 India vs Fijji (12:31 IST) 

Women's Triples Section A - Round 2 India vs Papua New Guinea (15:30 IST) 

Men's Singles Section A - Round 2 Krishna Xalxo vs England's Robert Paxton (15:30 IST).