CWG: India opens athletics account with silver, bronze in women's discus

Discus throwers Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the women's discus finals at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Thursday.

Punia, after failing to cross the 60m-mark in five attempts out of six, settled for the silver medal. Her third and fifth throws were fouls.

Her first and best throw was 60.41m, while Dhillon's was 57.43m.

Dhillon's threw 55.61m, 56.22m, 54.09m and 57.43m, and fouled on her second and third attempt.

Double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar and Rahul Aware pushed India's Gold medal tally to 14 on the eighth day of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 being held in Australia. Kumar and Aware on Gold medals in their respective wrestling competitions, while Babita Kumari settled for a silver in the women's 53-kg category after losing to Canada's Diana Weicker at CWG 2018. India is placed at the 3rd position in the medal tally, with 14 Gold, 6 Silver and 9 Bronze.

Rahul Aware's triumph opened India's gold medal account in the three-day wrestling competition at the Commonwealth Games 2018. In the 74 kg freestyle wrestling, Sushil Kumar took only a minute and 20 seconds to defeat Johannes Botha of South Africa on technical superiority to claim his third successive gold medal at the Games. This was Sushil Kumar’s third Commonwealth Games medal. The earlier ones were won in the Delhi and Glasgow Games.
 
For his part, Rahul Aware overpowered Steven Takahashi of Canada 15-7 in the final. “I have been waiting for this medal for the last 10 years. I can't describe how it feels to claim it. I missed out on 2010, even in 2014, the team was sent without trials. So, I am very happy that I could finally fulfil this dream," said the 26-year-old Aware.
 
However, Babita Kumari settled for a silver after being outmanoeuvred by Canada's Diana Weicker in the summit clash. "I think my weakness today was my attack, I should have been more aggressive, but I gave my 100 per cent. I am satisfied with the intensity I put in, but obviously I could not get the result I wanted," she said. While Kiran won bronze medal in 76 kg freestyle wrestling competition.
 
Earlier in the day, Indian shooter Tejaswini Sawant took a silver in the women's 50m Rifle Prone event. Sawant notched up a score of 618.9 points.

Here are the top 9 developments so far on Day 8 of the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Australia:

Wrestler Sushil Kumar wins gold in men's 74kg freestyle wrestling competition: Sushil Kumar won historic third Gold medal in Commonwealth games as he defeated Johannes Botha of South Africa in a minute and 20 seconds. Sushil defended his crown in the men's 74-kilogram category which he had won at the 2014 edition in Glasgow, Scotland. Sushil overpowered Johannes Botha of South Africa by technical superiority in the final. Bouts are awarded on the basis of technical superiority when one wrestler takes a lead of 10 or more points.

Rahul Aware wins Gold in 57-kg wrestling at Commonwealth Games 2018: Appearing in his first Commonwealth games, Wrestler Rahul Aware won gold in the men's 57-kilogram category in Commonwealth Games 2018 at Gold Coast. Aware overpowered Steven Takahashi of Canada 15-7 in the final. The Indian was dominant right from the start, pulling off three two-points moves in the first round. Although the Canadian showed excellent technical prowess with a four-point move, it was enough to prevent Aware from taking a two-point lead into the break. The Maharashtra wrestler showed his true class in the second round. He had increased his lead by one point in the initial stages before the Canadian scored three points to reduce the gap. Aware however, made an ankle hold to execute the classic 'fitlay' move which saw rack up eight consecutive points. That gave him a virtually insurmountable eight-point lead which proved too much for Steven to surmount.

Wrestler Babita takes silver, Kiran bags bronze: Indian wrestler Babita Kumari took silver in the women's 53 kilogram category in Commonwealth Games 2018 at Gold Coast. Babita lost 2-5 to Canada's Diana Weicker in her last round robin match which put paid to her chances of winning gold. Weicker won gold while Bose Samuel of Nigeria got the bronze. Weicker forced the early advantage by taking a 1-0 lead in the first round. Although Babita managed to execute a two-point in the second round, the Canadian notched up four more points to wrap up a comfortable win. Meanwhile, Kiran increased the Indian medals tally by bagging bronze in the women's 76kg category. She outclassed Katouskia Pariadhaven of Mauritius by technical superiority for the bronze medal. Kiran had built up a 10-0 lead in the first period itself which promped the officials to award her the bout.

Tejaswini Sawant wins silver in women's 50m Air Rifle: Indian shooter Tejaswini Sawant took silver in the women's 50m Rifle Prone event at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Sawant notched up a score of 618.9 points. Martina Lindsay Veloso of Singapore set a new Commonwealth Games record of 621.0 to win gold. Seonaid McIntosh of Scotland took bronze with 618.1. Anjum Moudgil, the other Indian in the fray, produced a disappointing performance. She scored 602.2 to finish 16th in the field of 20 competitors.

Shuttlers P V Sindhu, Ruthvika Gadde in quarters of women's singles: India's P V Sindhu and Ruthvika Gadde sailed into the quarter-finals of women's singles with easy wins in their respective round of 16 encounters at the 21st Commonwealth Games. Rio silver medallist Sindhu whipped past local girl Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen 2-0 (21-15, 21-9) in straight games to enter the quarters. The World No 3 Indian will play against Canadian Brittney Tam for a place in the top-four on Friday. In another singles tie, Ruthvika overcame some resistance from Singapore's Jia Min Yeo to eventually emerge victorious by 2-1 (21-10, 21-23, 21-10) in a 55-minute battle.

Shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy in quarters of men's singles: Star Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the quarter-finals of men's singles with easy wins in their respective round of 16 encounters at Gold Coast in 21st Commonwealth Games. Top seed Srikanth thrashed Sri Lankan Niluka Karunaratne 2-0 (21-10, 21-10) in just 33 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena. Prannoy, on the other hand, tamed Australian Anthony Joe 2-0 (21-18, 21-11) in 35 minutes to enter the quarters.

Arpinder Singh, Rakesh Babu enter triple jump final: Indian athletes Arpinder Singh and A V Rakesh Babu entered the final of the men's Triple Jump competition at Commonwealth Games 2018. Arpinder did well during the qualification stage, taking the top spot in Group B to enter the final in style. The Punjab athlete registered a best attempt of 16.39 metres to finish ahead of Namibia's Roger Haitengi who jumped 16.36m. Babu on the other hand, finished fifth in Group A with 15.98m to advance as one of the 12 best performers.

Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon advance in men's doubles squash: India's Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon entered the round of 16 of squash men's doubles after receiving a walk over from Sierra Leone's Ernest Jombla and Yusif Mansaray. Vikram and Ramit will next take on Jamaica's Chris Binnie and Lewis Walters, later on Thursday, for a place in the quarter-finals.

India's squash mixed pairs in quarters: The Indian squash mixed doubles pairs of Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal, and Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu won their respective round of 16 matches, to advance to the quarter-finals on Thursday. Dipika and Saurav came back from an one-game deficit to pocket the next two games, and clinch the contest 2-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-8) against Malaysian pair of Aifa Azman and Sanjay Singh Chal in 37 minutes. The Indian duo will next take on Wales combo of Tesni Evans and Peter Creed for a place in the semi-finals, later today. In the other round of 16 encounter, Joshna and Harinder beat New Zealand's Amanda Landers-Murphy and Zac Millar 2-1 (11-7, 10-11, 11-5) at the Oxenford Studios. Later in the day, Joshna and Harinder will take on another Kiwi pair of Joelle King and Paul Coll in the quarters.