India at CWG: Best show by Sushil-led wrestling team; shooters continue to dominate

Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar spearheaded a sparkling show as Indian grapplers dominated the wrestling arena with three gold medals after the shooters ended their campaign on a rousing note with five more podium finishes on sixth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Tuesday.

With 10 medals, including three gold, this was India's best show in this edition of the mega-event.

Sushil expectedly bagged gold in men's 75kg freestyle category while Amit Kumar won the yellow metal in men's 57kg. In the women's section, Vinesh Phogat finished on top in 48kg at the SECC Hall.

Rajeev Tomar, however, had to settle for a silver in the men's 125 kg freestyle event after going down to Canada's Korey Jarvis 0-3 in the finals.

Medals tally: 2014 Commonwealth Games

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Shooter Harpreet Singh survived two rounds of nerve-wrecking shoot-off and brushed aside a penalty point docked on him to claim silver in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event.

The 33-year-old Harpreet from Haryana saved India from disaster by bagging the silver after Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar failed to qualify for the final round after finishing seventh in the qualification round at the Barry Buddon Shooting Center. Only the top six in the qualification round qualify for the final.

Harpreet, who topped the qualification round, hit 21 times on the target in the six-shooter final which had eight rounds of five shots each.

David J Chapman of Australia won the gold with 23 hits on target while Metodi Igorov of Canada bagged the bronze after a shoot-off.

Harpreet had won two gold at the 2010 Commmonwealth Games in Delhi -- 25m center fire pistol singles and 25m center fire pistol pairs events.

Medals tally: 2014 Commonwealth Games

Complete coverage of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

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India's Sanjeev Rajput won the silver medal but Gagan Narang had to settle for bronze in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

Daniel Rivers of England won the gold medal as he finished top with 452.9 points ahead of Rajput with 446.9 and Narang on 436.8.

Star Indian marksman Gagan Narang failed to defend his gold in the men's 50m rifle 3 position but managed to win a bronze while compatriot Sanjeev Rajput clinched the silver on the concluding day of the shooting events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, on Tuesday.

31-year-old Narang, who had won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics in 10m air rifle event, shot 423.3 while Rajput aggregated 436.8 in the final held under windy conditions at the Barry Buddon Shooting Center at Dundee.

England's Daniel Rivers won the gold with a total of 452.9.

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Manavjit Singh Sandhu bagged a bronze medal in the men's trap event to boost India's medal tally at the Commonwealth Games.

Manavjit finished third in the semi-finals after hitting 13 of the maximum 15 targets. He then beat renowned shooter Michael Diamond of Australia in the bronze medal match.

The other Indian in the fray, Mansher Singh was sixth and last in the semi-finals as he hit just 11 of the 15 targets.

In the bronze medal match, both Manavjit and Diamond hit 11 targets out of the 15. It required a 'shoot-off' where the Indian was on target to clinch a podium finish.

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London Olympic silver medallist marksman Vijay Kumar made a shock exit in the qualification round of the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event.

Vijay shot a total of 555 points in the two qualification rounds to finish seventh and miss out on a place in the final round.

The top six in the qualification round advanced to the final round.

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India put up a valiant fight before going down 2-4 against world champions and title holders Australia in their third group match in the men's hockey competition.

Living upto their reputation, Australia build on a two-goal burst in the space of two minutes and were set to go into the breather with a 3-0 cushion before India pulled one back at the fag end of the first half.

India managed to re-group themselves and put up a stronger defence in the second half, where they conceded one and scored one at the National Hockey Centre.

Chris Ciriello (14th minute, 49th), Simon Orchard (16th) and Jacob Whetton (26th) were the goal scorers for Australia, while Rupinder Singh (34th) and Ramandeep Singh (48th) sounded the board for India.

After two easy victories, it was supposed to be a real test for the Indian team and coach Terry Walsh's boys didn't fare too badly against the Kookaburras, who had thrashed them 0-8 at Delhi four years ago.

India started on a positive note as they invaded the rival semicircle but some clever defending from Australia kept them at bay.

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Australia, however, didn't take long to assert their supremacy as the 2010 Champions scored twice within a space of two minutes to push India on the backfoot.

Ciriello drew the first blood when he converted their second penalty corner while a minute later Orchard scored a field goal when he capitalised on a defensive lapse to slot home from close range.

India struggled to gain possession of the ball after that as Australia kept their rival defenders busy.

In the 26th minute, Whetton made good use of a defensive lapse by Rupinder outside the semicircle as he sent the ball to the left of the post, beating P R Shreejesh on the way as Australia led 3-0.

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Two minutes from the breather, India earned a penalty corner and Rupinder redeemed himself when he sent one hovering over the defenders to help India go into the break with a 1-3 deficit.

India showed a lot of purpose in second half as they created opportunities but failed to execute them in time.

In the 48th minute, an opportunist Ramandeep brushed off two defenders and dived in a shot to find the inside of the post as India reduced the difference to 2-3.

However, Australia didn't waste any time as one minute later, Ciriello scored with a penalty stroke, finding the left of the goalpost.

Shreejesh came up with some good saves as he kept the Australians away, staving off their challenge at least in four penalty corners.

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India's leading squash players Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal made a winning start in the doubles events at the Commonwealth Games.

Having failed to bag India's first squash medal at the Commonwealth Games in the singles category, Ghosal and Pallikal teamed up for the mixed doubles. The fifth seeds dismissed Sri Lanka's Ravindu Laksiri and Naduni Gunawardane 11-3, 11-4 in Pool 5 at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

The other team in their group is 12th seeds Samantha Cornett and Shawn Delierre from Canada.

In the men's doubles, Ghosal combined with Harinder Pal Sandhu to beat 9-11, 11-3, 11-2 in Pool 7.

- CWG 2014: Sushil, Amit and Vinesh win wrestling gold medals

Lajja Gauswami bagged a bronze in women's 50m rifle 3 positions as India ended their spectacular shooting campaign on a high at the Commonwealth Games.

Gauswami shot 436.1 to end with a bronze in windy conditions behind Singapore's Jasmine Ser (449.1) and Scotland's Jen McIntosh (446.6) on the concluding day of shooting competition at the Barry Buddon Center at Dundee.

The other Indian in the fray, Susan Elizabeth failed to make it to the final round after finishing ninth in the qualifying round.

With the bronze from Gauswami, India made a rich haul of 17 -- four gold, nine silver and four bronze.

Gauswami later said she was not happy with the result though she will learn from the experience.

"I'm not happy with my result, but it's all a good experience.

"It was very windy and very difficult. I also had so much pressure my heart was beating so fast. But thanks to my coach, he was saying to stay calm and relax."

Asked about India's success in shooting over the years, she said, "There is so much government support with the coaches and training. Even my home state of Gujarat supports me a lot."

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India's Chandrakant Mali clinched the bronze medal in men's 94kg weightlifting to add to the country's overall tally in the sport.

Mali, who totalled 338, lifted 146kg, 150kg and 153kg in three attempts in snatch and and 183kg, 188kg and 194 kg in clean and jerk to finish third on the podium, ahead of England's Owen Boxall.

Steven Kukuna Kari of Papua New Guinea bagged the gold medal with a total of 349 while Australia's Simplice Ribouem won the silver with and identical score but Kari took the top honours owing to lesser body weight.

India, who are leading the standings in weightlifting, have so far won 3 gold, as many silver and 5 bronze medals in the sport.

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It turned out to be a bad outing for Indian pugilists and with the exception of L Sarita Devi, none of the other three boxers in fray could advance on day six of competitions.

Sarita knocked out Nigeria's Kehinde Obareh 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals in women's 57-60kg. The 32-year-old Manipuri boxer notched up 10:9 verdicts in both the rounds.

The Indian will next take on Welsh Charlene Jones in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Late in the evening, in women's 75kg round of 16 bout, Pooja Rani lost to fancied 2012 World Boxing Championships winner Savannah Marshall of England 0-3 on points in an unanimous decision of the three judges. All the three judges gave identical 10-9 verdicts in the four rounds, indicating a close fight.

It was also curtains for defending champion Manoj Kumar, who lost his last 8 bout.

Sumit Sangwan, too, lost his quarterfinals bout to David Nyika of New Zealand 1-2. Sangwan was leading after the first round but lost the plot thereafter.

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Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and R M V Gurusaidutt won their respective matches to enter the men's singles Round of 32.

Srikanth had an easy Round of 64 outing as he took just 15 minutes to defeat St. Helena's Duane March 21-3, 21-4 at the Emirates Arena.

The Hyderabadi shuttler will next clash with Welsh Daniel Font on Wednesday.

Gurusaidutt also had an easy match as he posted a 21-5, 21-12 win in 24 minutes against Benjamin Pui Hun Li of the Isle of Man. He will next face Edwin Ekiring.