Glasgow: Women’s pugilists L Sarita Devi and Pinki Jangra assured a silver and bronze while Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj reached the final of men’s doubles table tennis event to consolidate India’s fifth position on the ninth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games, here on Friday.
India are currently placed fifth in the standings with 48 medals (13 gold, 20 silver, 15 bronze). England lead the chart (134 medals), followed by Australia (119), Canada (71) and hosts Scotland (46).
In women’s boxing, experienced Sarita Devi outpunched her Mozambique opponent Maria Machongua to storm into the final of the 60kg category.
Earlier in the day, another Indian pugilist Jangra lost a close semifinal bout against Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland to settle for a bronze medal in women’s 51kg category.
Pinki, who had beaten Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom in the national trials to make it to the Indian boxing squad, gave a valliant fight but could not pack enough punch against a taller opponent.
There was good news for India in table tennis event as well as ace paddler Sharath and Amalraj assured India at least a silver medal by reaching the final of the men’s doubles competition.
The Indian duo blanked Singapore’s Yang Zi and Zhan Jian 11-7 12-10 11-3 in the semifinals at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. Sharath and Amalraj will meet the mighty Singaporean pair of Gao Ning and Li Hu in the gold medal match.
Sharath continued his fine showing on the table tennis board and made it to the semifinals of the men’s singles event as well.
Sharath humbled England’s Paul Drinkhall 4-1 to enter the lamst four round. S harath comfortably beat Drinkhall 11-7 11-6 12-10 9-11 11-6 in the best-of-s even quarterfinal encounter that lasted just 43 minutes.
However, it was curtains for another Indian Soumyajit Ghosh in the men’s singles quarterfinals as he lost to England’s Liam Pitchford 4-2.
In badminton, India’s medal aspirants P V Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap notched up straight-game wins in the women’s and men’s singles event to storm into the semifinals.
World No. 11 Sindhu didn’t break any sweat as she brushed aside New Zealand’s Anna Rankin 21-10 21-9 in a 24-minute match while Kashyap, ranked 22, thrashed Daren Liew 21-13 21-14 in a match that lasted 38 minutes.
Sindhu, the world championship bronze medallist, will next take on Canada’s Michelle Li, while Delhi Games bronze winner Kashyap will meet Rajiv Ouseph of England at the Emirates Arena.
On the hockey turf, Indian women’s hockey team secured a hard-fought 2-1 win over hosts Scotland to finish a disappointing fifth.
Anupa Barla and Poonam Rani scored two quick field goals in the second half to help their team earn a consolation win. Nikki Kid converted a penalty corner for Scotland.
However, it w as disappointment for Indian gymnast Ashish Kumar as he finished last in the men’s vault final due to a fall on the mat.
Ashish had won silver in vault and bronze in floor event in 2010 Delhi CWG to become the first Indian gymnast to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games but failed to repeat his feat.
Ashish, who had finished sixth in the floor event final yesterday, ended his campaign on a faulty note after he failed to land on his feet in his second vault. He scored a decent 14.333 in his first vault but landed flat on the mat on his back instead of the feet while trying for a somersault in the air.
India also missed out on a historic bronze medal in the lawn bowl men’s fours team event after the quartet squandered a huge lead midway to lose to Australia in the third-place encounter.
The Indian team of Kamal Kumar Sharma, Chandan Kumar Singh, Samit Malhotra and Dinesh Kumar was leading 11-5 after the eighth of the 15-end match and came agonisingly close to creating history before losing the bronze-medal match 14-15 at the picturesque Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls ground here.
Meanwhile, it was a bad in office for Indian squash players at the quadrennial event. Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal crashed out of mixed double event after being easily beaten 2-0 (11-6 11-9) in the quarterfinals by Australia’s David Palmer and Rachael Grinham. (PTI)
CWG medals table
# Country G S B Total
1 England 44 38 38 120
2 Australia 36 36 41 113
3 Canada 26 13 23 62
4 Scotland 14 12 16 42
5 India 13 20 14 47
6 New Zealand 13 11 15 39
7 South Africa 11 10 15 36
8 Nigeria 6 6 11 23
9 Kenya 5 6 2 13
10 Jamaica 5 3 5 13
11 Wales 4 10 14 28
12 Malaysia 4 5 5 14