CWG 2018: India's gold rush on with 19 medals in total; top 10 developments

All that is gold is not from weightlifting. Even as India's domination in weightlifting continued on the 5th day of Commonwealth Games with a final-day silver medal through Pardeep Singh (105 kg), shuttlers, shooters and paddlers too joined the party.

The Men's Table Tennis team beat Nigeria scripted a historic victory after the women's team's heady exploits on the previous day.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal brought home a Gold medal with a 21-11 19-21 21-9 win over Sonia Cheah Su Ya of Malaysia in the mix badminton team event at the sports carnival. 

"It was exhausting, I actually lost focus during the match but thankfully managed to hold it together and ensure that the gold medal winning shot was mine," said the London Olympics bronze-medallist.

"It is a medal that I will forever cherish, it is very special. Team gold is always way more cherishable," she added.

Of Tuesday's line-up, most notable fixtures will be that of marksman Gagan Narang, squash champion Deepika Pallikal and the Indian Men's Hockey team that will play Malaysia. It is to be seen if they can bring more gold medallions home.

Here are the top 10 developments among all that happened on the 5th day of Commonwealth Games 2018

1. Saina gets India gold after hard day 

London Olympic silver-medallist Saina Nehwal produced a rich vein of form as she helped the star-studded Indian badminton team hammer Malaysia 3-1 to clinch the gold medal on Day Five of the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia here on Monday.

Nehwal guided India to their maiden gold in the mixed team event of the prestigious multi-sport Games after the pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty lost their men's doubles clash.

2. Jitu Rai shoots gold

Earlier, the ever-reliable Jitu Rai's pistol shot down a gold and a Commonwealth Games record, while the mixed badminton and men's table tennis sides also picked up milestone top finishes.

3. 17-year old shoots Commonwealth Games record score

The 17-year-old Mehuli Ghosh grabbed a silver in the 10m air rifle, finishing ahead of experienced teammate Apurvi Chandela. Mehuli also shot a Games record score (247.2) in the process but missed out on gold in a shoot-off with Singapore's Martina Lindsay Veloso.

"I will try harder next time. I know I can do more and will try my best, said the exuberant shooter, who had mistakenly taken her gear off thinking that she had claimed the gold before realizing that she still had a shoot-off to deal with.

4. Weightlifters fare well on last day

The weightlifters wrapped up their remarkable campaign with a final-day silver medal through Pardeep Singh (105kg), signing off with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals, topping the charts in the sport.

On the final day of weightlifting competition, Pardeep came agonisingly close to a gold but eventually settled for a silver after a close contest with Samoa's Sanele Mao.

Singh, the reigning Commonwealth Championships gold-medallist, lifted a total of 352kg (152kg+200kg) to claim the second spot after an exciting showdown with Mao, which had the packed arena on its feet.

The 23-year-old went for a 211kg lift, which would have been a new Commonwealth and Games record in clean and jerk, but could not pull it off in his final attempt.

"I have lifted a personal best of 215kg in the past but maybe it wasn't my day," said the Games debutant, who was happy with a podium finish but a shade disappointed with the colour of his medal. 

5. Other bright spots

Apart from the medals, there were several other good results worth celebrating, a prominent one being Muhammed Anas Yahiya advancing to the 400m men's final after clocking 45.44 seconds in the semifinals. The Indian topped the list ahead of Jamaica's Rusheen McDonald.

Also entering the final of a track and field event was high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, who finished a joint fifth in group A and ninth overall. The Indian cleared 2.21m in final analysis after starting out at 2.10 metres.

6. India at third position in the medals tally

India ranked third in the medals tally at the end of Day 5 of the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Monday. The list is in the order of rank, nation, gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal and total medals.

Australia 39 33 34 106

England 22 25 16 63

 India 10 4 5 19

7.  Indian men's table tennis team strike gold

A day after the Indian women's table tennis team recorded a major upset in the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games by beating defending champions Singapore for gold, the men's team emulated them by scooping up the gold medal with a 3-0 win over Nigeria in the finals.

8. P V Sindhu is fit, says Pullela Gopichand

Forced out of the gold medal winning mixed team campaign due to an ankle injury, top shuttler P V Sindhu has recovered to be fit for the singles event of the ongoing Commonwealth Games, national coach Pullela Gopichand said on Monday.

"She is fine now and will compete in the singles competition," Gopichand said when asked about Sindhu's fitness status after India upstaged three-time defending champions Malaysia in the finals today.

9. India box into quarterfinals

In the boxing ring, Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Manish Kaushik (60kg) advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective victories after winning their last-16 stage bouts.

10. What to look forward to on Tuesday

• Gagan Narang will feature in the Men's 50 metres Rifle
• Indian men's hockey team will play Malaysia
• Dipika Pallikal will team up with Joshna Chinappa for Squash doubles

                                                                                                                                                                                           With Agency inputs