Indians at CWG: Rahi, Apurvi bag golds, shooters grab five more medals

Apurvi Chandela and Rahi Sarnobat clinched a gold medal each as Indian shooters returned with five more medals to swell the country's medal tally on the third day of competitions at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

Besides Apurvi and Rahi, Ayonika Paul, Prakash Nanjappa and Anisa Sayyed claimed a silver each to accumulate seven medals from shooting so far. India had won one gold and a silver on Friday.

Rahi, 23, and 21-year-old Apurvi were the star performer for India today as they bagged the yellow metal in the women's 25m pistol and 10m air rifle events respectively.

It was an all-Indian affair in the women's 25m pistol event as Rahi Sarnobat beat Anisa in the gold-medal match 8-2 to cap a brilliant second day of shooting competitions.

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Earlier, Rajasthan girl Apurvi got India its second gold from the shooting range winning the 10m Air Rifle event with a score of 206.7, while compatriot Ayonika Paul boosted the medal tally with a silver.

Prakash Nanjappa also got a silver in the 10m Air Pistol event, after narrowly missing out on the yellow metal due to a lapse of concentration.

With five more medals, India took their overall medals tally to 15 with five gold, seven silver and three bronze medals and were placed fifth on the medals table.

Nanjappa paid the price for a horrendous shot midway into the final round as he lost concentration and shot a disappointing 7.7 to hand the lead to eventual winner Daniel Repacholi of Australia.

Despite the setback in the sixth shot of the elimination stage, the Nanjappa tried his best to catch up with the Australian but failed to do so in the end and had to settle with a silver. 

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Rahi Sarnobat, who had lost to Sayyed in the gold medal match at Delhi 2010 four years ago, said: "In the last Commonwealth Games she (Sayyed) had the gold and I got silver, so this time it's the other way around and it's even nicer that both the medals went to India.

"The approach of India to shooting has changed -- we have Olympic medals as well as Commonwealth medals. We train in better venues, have good coaches and I think that reflects in our shooting," she added.

Asked about her mental preparation, she said, "I'm sure about one thing, it's better to shoot technically rather than emotionally. Every time."

Sayyed said the inclement weather made the competition difficult.

"Conditions were quite difficult. The rain made it darker and I had to change the filters of the glasses. When we had our practice sessions there was no rain but, during the final, conditions changed and that made it harder," she said.

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In Hockey, India dished out a dominating performance to notch up a 6-2 victory over hosts Scotland in a Pool A match.

Ranked ninth in the world, India went on a goal-spree as they rode on the scores from Gurbaj Singh (6th minute), Raghunath Ramachandra (22nd, 44th), Rupinder Singh (36th, 49th) and Gurwinder Chandi (40th) at the National Hockey Centre.

Kenny Bain (56th) and Nicholas Parkes (68th) were the goalscorer for Scotland.

After the match, Rupinder said: "It feels good to score two goals for India today. It was good game. Everyone played well. We have to learn what mistakes we made."

"We are looking for the final and maybe a gold medal."

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Omkar Otari won a bronze in the men's 69kg competition to continue India's strong show in weightlifting.

The 26-year-old Otari was leading at the halfway stage but his disappointing show at the clean and jerk cost him a better medal as he was taken over by Mohd Hafifi Mansor of Malaysia and Yinka Ayenuwa of Nigeria.

Mansor won the gold with a lift of 305kg (135+170) while Yinka bagged the silver with an aggregate of 301kg (130+171). Otari lifted a total of 296kg (136+160). He had lifted 296kg (135+161) while winning the National Championships.

It was a competition between Otari and Commonwealth Championships winner Mansor of Malysia at the snatch stage.

Otari began his snatch with 130kg and then went on to lift 134kg and 136kg in his next two attempts. Mansor started at 135kg but could not lift 137kg in his next two attempts to concede the lead to Otari.

In the clean and jerk, Otari began with a 155kg and then went on to lift 160kg in his second attempt. But, surprisingly, he decided to go for an attempt of 162kg even before Mansor had begun his clean and jerk. The Indian failed in his attempt and that gave a clear advantage to the Malaysian.

Mansor kept his starting weight in clean and jerk very high and started at 166kg which he easily lifted in his first attempt to jump to the top spot.

Yinka was successful in his attempt for 166kg to equal Otari on 296kg but went on to lift 171kg to bag the silver.

Mansor, who had also won a bronze in this category in the 2010 Delhi CWG, had lifted 307kg (138+169) while bagging gold in the Commonwealth Championships last year.

Meanwhile, Meena Kumari finished fifth in women's 58kg with a total lift of 194kg (83+111).

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India's Rajwinder Kaur bagged a bronze in women's +78kg judo competition to add to the three medals the country won at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

Rajwinder defeated Esther Akinyi Ratugi of Kenya in the bronze medal match on penalty points to give cheers to the Indian camp.

The Kenyan was handed three penalties in the four-minute bout as against none for Rajwinder.

Earlier, Rajwinder had lost to J Myers of England in the quarter-finals but won her repechage match against Sophie Vaillancourt of Canada to earn a chance for the bronze medal match.

With the bronze, the medal count for India from judo has risen to four, with three -- two silver and one bronze -- having won on Thursday.

The Indian judokas has already created history by winning the highest number of medals in any Commonwealth Games.

Judo made a return in the Commonwealth Games after 2002 Manchester. This is the third time judo has been included in the Games, the first one being in 1990 in Auckland.

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India had won two medals -- without a gold-- in both 1990 and 2002.

However, in the men's event, Sahil Pathania (upto 100 kg) lost to Tim Slyfield in the bronze medal contest after being handed two penalties against one to the New Zealander.

In women's event, Jina Devi Chongtham (upto 78 kg) too failed to cross the hurdle as she lost to Hortense Atangana of Cameroon after being handed a penalty.

Parikshit Kumar (+100 Kg) too could not earn India another medal after losing to Jake Andrewartha on the basis of two wazaari.

In his quarter-final bout, Pathania lost to Jason Koster having conceded three shido penalties and 'Ippon'.

However quarter-final qualification ensured repechage bouts for Pathania, who knocked out Dominic Dugasse of Seychelles with an 'Ippon' within a minute.

Earlier, Parikshit was 'Ippon-ed’ in the quarter-final by Kiwi Sam Rosser but won his repechage bout against Gavin McNeill of New Zealand to set up a bronze medal fight with Jake Andrewartha of Australia.

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In squash, Dipika Pallikal crashed out of the women's event after losing 1-3 (11-8, 2-11, 9-11, 6-11) to fourth seed Alison Waters of England in the quarter-finals. Sixth seed Pallikal had defeated 15th seed Delia Arnold of Malaysia 11-6, 12-10, 11-5 in a prequarterfinal match earlier.

India's leading squash players Saurav Ghosal had a narrow escape against Australian Steven Finitsis as he recovered from 6-7 down in the fifth and deciding game to pull off a 11-2, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8 victory at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

With this victory, Ghosal became the first Indian to reach the singles quarter-finals since the sport was introduced in the Games programme in 1998. He next plays 12th seed Campbell Grayson of New Zealand .

Soon after Ghosal's win, sixth seed Pallikal matched her compatriot's feat by getting past 15th seed Delia Arnold of Malaysia 11-6, 12-10, 11-5 in a match lasting 40 minutes.

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Indian men's table tennis team blanked hosts Scotland 3-0 to reach the semi-finals but it was curtains for their women counterpart after they suffered a 1-3 loss to Singapore in the last four contest.

Soumyajit Ghosh started the proceedings for Indian men's team as he brushed aside 29-year-old Gavin Rumgay 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 to put India ahead at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

Experienced campaigner Achanta Sharath Kamal then took the court and notched up a 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 win over Craig Howieson to make it 2-0.

The hosts needed a win in the third match to stay afloat but Harmeet Desai and Ghosh put paid to their hopes after beating the pair Sean Doherty and Craig 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 to complete the 3-0 drubbing.

In the women’s match, Shamini Kumaresan was given the responsibility to give India a positive start but the Indian lost to Tienwei Feng 1-11, 11-13, 5-11 in the first match.

Manika then played her heart out and eked out a 11-7, 5-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7 win over Mengyu Yu to help India draw level at 1-1 after the second match.

Madhurika Patkar and Kumaresan then paired up but they could not get across Lin Ye and Mengyu as they went down 9-11, 7-11, 5-11 as Singapore were leading 2-1.

In the fourth match, the onus was put on Manika again to bring India back in the contest. The Delhi girl tried her best before going down 9-11, 11-9, 6-11, 5-11 as India crashed out of the competition.