Indians at Games: Bindra bids CWG adieu with gold, Malaika gets silver

After a cracking opening day where they bagged seven medals, it was a relatively quieter day for the Indians as they added a gold, silver and a bronze to their tally.

India are currently placed fifth in the medals tally with three gold, four silver and three bronze medals behind England, Australia, Scotland and Canada.

It was a memorable swansong at the Commonwealth Games for Abhinav Bindra as the ace marksman bagged the 10m Air Rifle gold medal in a gripping finale.

The cynosure of the day certainly was the 31-year-old Bindra, who finally won an individual gold at the quadrennial extravaganza which had eluded him on four previous attempts.

Bindra, who has already won nine medals including three gold in pairs events, was calmness personified as he did not put a foot wrong in the final round, having finishing third in the qualifications at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre,Dundee.

Bindra, first Indian Olympic individual gold medallist, shot an aggregate of 205.3 to set a Games Record.

"This is my last Commonwealth Games. Five CWG and nine medals, it is enough for me," Bindra said.

- Commonwealth Games 2014

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Bindra felt sorry for compatriot Ravi Kumar who missed out on a bronze in a shoot-off after leading the competition till the halfway.

"Ravi is a talented shooter. His future is bright and he will do well for the country. I have not spoken to him after the event but definitely I will speak to him and encourage him," said Bindra, who trailed the second series of the elimination stage behind Ravi.

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Young schoolgirl Malaika Goel turned out to be surprise package winning silver in the 10m air pistol event.

The 16-year-old Malaika gave India its first shooting medal with a score of 197.1.

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Heena Sidhu, her teammate and favourite for the gold, fell by the wayside, finishing a poor seventh.

Former world No 1 Sinhu disappointed after topping the qualification rounds. She was the second shooter to be eliminated in the eight-woman field in the final.

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India's good show in the weightlifting arena continued as young Andhra girl Santoshi grabbed the bronze medal with a total lift of 188 kg in snatch and clean and jerk to get the bronze as 16-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl Chika Amalaha won the gold with a total lift of 196 kg.

The Indian men's hockey team launched their campaign on a sluggish note as they toiled hard to register a 3-1 win over a lowly Wales in their opening Pool A match at the National Hockey Centre.

Ranked ninth in the world, India had to dig deep to overcome a resolute Wales defence and pocket full points.

India scored two goals through penalty corner conversions by V R Raghunath (20th minute) and Rupinder Pal Singh (42nd) before comeback man Girvinder Singh Chandi scored from a field effort in the 47th minute.

Wales' lone goal was netted by Andrew Cornick in the 23rd minute from field play.

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However, it was curtains for Garima Choudhary in the women's 63kg category after she went down fighting in her repechage round.

Garima, who was the only Indian judoka to have qualified for the London Olympics in 2012, lost to K J Yeats-Brown of England in the repechage. Yeats-Brown won on the basis of two Wazaris.

Indian men had a disappointing outing as both Balvinder Singh and V Vikender Singh lost in the round of 32 in 73kg and 81kg, respectively.

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Indian paddlers continued their rampaging form as the men's and women's teams blanked Guyana and Kenya 3-0 respectively in the group stage of the table tennis team competition.

After thrashing Vanuatu 3-0 on the opening day, the Indian men's team continued their good showing with Anthony Amalraj brushing aside Shamar Britton 11-4, 11-3, 11-3 to give his side an early lead.

Young Soumyajit Ghosh then beat Christopher Franklin 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 to make it 2-0 in India's favour. Sanil Shankar Shetty and Amalraj then paired up to get the better of Paul David and Franklin 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 to complete the rout.

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In swimming, Sandeep Sejwal finished a poor sixth in 100m breaststroke semi-final and finished a disappointing 12th among the 16 swimmers who qualified. Sejwal's timing of :103.24 secs deteriorated from his timing in the heats which was 1:02.97 secs.

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Indian squash star Joshna Chinappa suffered a 1-3 defeat against World No 4 Joelle King of New Zealand in the round of 16 to crash out of the women's singles competition.

However, Dipika Pallikal stormed into the quarterfinal defeating Delia Arnold of Malaysia in three straight games 11-6, 12-10, 11-5. She will meet Alison Waters of England in the last eight clash.

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Talented pugilist Mandeep Jangra started his Commonwealth Games campaign in style defeating Mozambique's Augusto Mathule in the 69 kg welterweight division bout here today.

However Parveen Kumar of India lost to Corey Henderson of Scotland in the Super heavyweight (+91 kg) category to bow out.