Shreyasi Singh’s Gold and Indian Hockey team’s comeback victory over England lights up Day 7 for India at Gold Coast

Indian shooter Shreyasi Singh produced a brilliant shot to beat Australia’s Emma Cox to clinch a gold medal in women’s double trap event at the Commonwealth Games in Australia on Wednesday. Shreyasi shot 96 and was tied with Cox in the final round and claimed the top honors in style by beating the Australian in the shoot-off. Shreyasi and Emma were tied at 96 after four rounds which led them to the shoot-off. The Indian hit the target twice while Emma failed to hit one out of the two shots she got, while India’s Varsha Varman, who was in medal contention till the last round, finished fourth with 86. Whereas in Men’s double trap event Ankur Mittal had to settle for the bronze medal.

In the 50m men’s pistol event Om Mitharwal clinched the bronze medal, while Jitu Rai, the other Indian who was in the fray in the 50m event, and one of the favorites for gold had to bow out early after having a disastrous final round.

The Indian hockey team registered a 4-3 comeback victory over England to finish on top of Pool B. With this win India has avoided a semi-final clash with the defending CWG champions Australia and will be facing New Zealand in the semis.

On the other hand, the Indian shuttlers had an easy sailing in the round of 32 as the likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Ruthvika Gadde, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and the duo of Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa eased past their opponents to enter the next round.

In athletics, Tejaswin Shankar finished 6th on his CGW debut in the High Jump as he failed to cross the 2.27m mark and Hima Das, who on Tuesday became the first Indian woman to qualify for the 400m final finished 6th but clocked a personal best of 51.32 seconds. Nellickal Neena and Nayana James who have qualified for the women’s long jump finals will be vying to put up a spirited performance in the finals which will be held tomorrow.

Manish Kaushik assured India yet another medal after defeating England’s Calum French in Men’s 60kg Boxing quarterfinal, as all 8 Indian males in the fray are assured of a medal now and all of them have reached the semis. Meanwhile, out of 4 Indian female boxers, only Mary Kom is left in the fray and in the contention of Gold, whereas other 3 have crashed out.

(India ends Day 7 at Gold Coast on 3rd place with a tally of 24 medals; Gold–12 Silver– 4 Bronze­–8)

(Pic courtesy- HT Media)