Another historic day for India at the Commonwealth Games 2022, this time headlined by Murali Sreeshankar’s silver medal in the men’s long jump final. It was India’s second medal in the long jump in CWG history. Sudhir won India’s first gold in para powerlifting
More Indian boxers assured medals as well! Amit Panghal, Jaismine Lamboria, Sagar and Rohit Tokas all progressed to their respective semi-finals.
The Indian men’s hockey team advanced to the semi-final after beating Wales in a must-win match and ace sprinter Hima Das qualified for the women’s 200m semis.
The badminton contingent, headlined by PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, advanced in their first singles matches. Defending table tennis women’s champion Manika Batra too progressed while G Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal looked the part in their respective doubles matches. Squash player Dipika Pallikal Karthik was in the spotlight for the first time in the games and emerged victorious in both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles matches.
Athletics:
Hima Das qualifies for women’s 200m semis
Ace Indian sprinter Hima Das finished with a time of 23.42s in the women’s 200m heats at Commonwealth Games 2022. She advanced into the semi-final and was only 0.22s behind Christine Mboma of Namibia, who topped the charts in the heats.
Indian athlete Manju Bala made a 59.68m throw in the qualifying round of the women’s hammer throw event at CWG 2022 to finish 11th and ensure qualification for the final. Sarita Singh, however, managed only 57.48m throw and ended up one position short of making it to the final.
Murali Sreeshankar wins the silver medal in men’s long jump final
Indian athlete Murali Sreeshankar made a best jump of 8.08m in the men’s long jump final at the Commonwealth Games 2022. While the jump in itself was the joint-best, an inferior second best attempt resulted in Sreeshankar winning the silver medal. This is India’s second men’s long jump medal in CWG history, the previous won by Suresh Babu (bronze medal) in 1978.
Muhammed Anees Yahiya finished fifth in the final with a best jump of 7.97m which came in the final attempt. Laquan Nairn from the Bahamas won the gold medal and Jovan van Vuuren from South Africa won the bronze medal.
Camryn Rogers of Canada managed a 74.68m throw in the qualifying round to set a new Commonwealth Games record in women’s hammer throw.
Badminton:
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist PV Sindhu began her women’s singles journey at the Commonwealth Games 2022 by comfortably winning her opening match. She beat Fathimath Nabaaha 21-4, 21-11 to reach to round of 16.
Ashwini Ponnappa and B. Sumeeth Reddy were beaten in the round of 32 and suffered elimination from the mixed doubles category at Birmingham 2022. The English duo of Callum Hemming and Jessica Pugh won 21-18, 21-16 and advanced to the round of 16.
The Gold Coast 2018 silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth successfully began his surge for gold in the men’s singles round of 32. The world no.13 beat Daniel Wanagaliya of Uganda 21-9, 21-9 to reach the round of 16 at Birmingham 2022.
Aakarshi Kashyap was victorious in her first singles match at CWG 2022 in the round of 32 after Mahoor Shahzad retired from the match in the second game. The 20-year-old won an extremely competitive first game 22-20 before beginning to take charge against Shahzad in the second game.
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen took charge of the men’s singles round of 32 clash against Vernon Smeed and emerged victorious in straight games. The 20-year-old won 21-4, 21-5 to advance into the round of 16.
Table tennis:
Paddlers Sanil Shetty and Reeth Tennison faced a defeat in the mixed doubles round of 64 match at Birmingham 2022. The Malaysian duo of Wong Qi Shen and Tee Ai Xin won 11-6, 12-10, 11-13, 8-11, 11-8 to eliminate the Indian pair and make it to the round of 32.
The Indian mixed doubles duo of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra were dominant in the round of 32 as won 11-1, 11-3, 11-1. Seychelles’ pair of Mick Crea and Laura Sinon were only able to win five points in the entire match as compared to the 33 won by Sathiyan and Batra.
Sharath Kamal, a mixed doubles bronze medallist at the 2018 Asian Games, along with Sreeja Akula beat Northern Ireland’s Owen Cathcart and Sophie Earley in the round of 32 at Birmingham 2022. The 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 victory took the Indian pair into the round of 16 in the mixed doubles category.
Indian paddlers Reeth Tennison and Sreeja Akula won their respective matches in the women’s singles round of 32 to progress into the next round. Akula beat Karen Lyne from Malaysia 12-10, 12-10, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8. Tennison, meanwhile, won 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, 11-3 against England’s Charlotte Bardsley.
Indian star paddler Manika Batra beat Canada’s Ching Nam Fu 11-5, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6 with a commanding performance in the women’s singles round of 32. She is the defending gold medallist in this category.
Indian men’s doubles pair of Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won in straight games against Joel Alleyne and Jonathan van Lange in the round of 32. The 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 victory takes the Indian paddlers into the next round at Birmingham 2022.
Boxing:
Indian pugilist Amit Panghal beat Lennon Mulligan in the flyweight quarter-final to advance into the semi-final. The 5:0 win on points for the 26-year-old assured the Indian boxing contingent of a fourth medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Indian lightweight pugilist Jaismine Lamboria beat Troy Garton, a bronze medallist at Gold Coast 2018, in the quarter-final at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 4:1 win on points ensures a fifth boxing medal for India at these games as Lamboria makes it to the semi-final.
India’s super heavyweight boxer Sagar triumphed against Keddy Agnes in the quarter-final to advance into the semi-final. The 5:0 win on points ensured yet another medal for India in boxing at Birmingham 2022.
Welterweight boxer Rohit Tokas won his quarter-final bout 5:0 on points and advanced to the semi-final at Commonwealth Games 2022. The 29-year-old dominated in the bout against Xavier Mata’afa-Ikinofo of Niue and assured India of a seventh boxing medal at these games.
Lawn bowls:
India’s veteran lawn bowls player Mridul Borgohain lost 21-13 to Ross Davis from Jersey in his final group stage match in the men’s singles category. The defeat meant he finished fourth in Section D and failed to qualify for the men’s singles quarter-final at the CWG 2022.
Borgohain also featured in the men’s triples category in lawn bowls at these games.
Rhythmic gymnastics:
Indian gymnast Bavleen Kaur finished the women’s individual qualification round with a total score of 72.700. She finished 13th in subdivision 1 with her best performance coming in the ribbon apparatus where she was ranked 11th.
The result meant that 19-year-old was unable to qualify for the individual apparatus finals.
Squash:
Sunanya Kuruvilla and 14-year-old Anahat Singh comfortably won the women’s doubles round of 32 match at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The Indian duo beat Sri Lankan pair of Yeheni Kuruppu and Chanithma Sinaly 11-9, 11-4 to advance into the round of 16. Later, Anahat Singh and Sunanya Kuruvilla’s journey at the Commonwealth Games 2022 came to an end after facing defeat in the women’s doubles round of 16. The duo were beaten 11-4, 11-4 by the Australian pair of Donna Lobban and Rachael Grinham.
The Indian men’s doubles duo of Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar won 11-3, 11-1 in the round of 32 at Birmingham 2022. They advanced into the round of 16 after a convincing victory against the British Virgin Islands pair.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik won their opening match of the campaign. The 11-8, 11-4 win took the pair through to the quarter-final at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
The Indian women’s doubles pair Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Joshana Chinappa beat Meagan Best and Amanda Haywood of Barbados in the round of 16. As a result of the 11-4, 11-4 win, the Indian duo made it to the quarter-final of the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Hockey:
India ensured a semi-final berth at the expense of Wales in men’s hockey at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The Men in Blue beat the Welsh side by a 4-1 scoreline in their final Pool B match and are likely to finish at the top of the points table.
Harmanpreet Singh scored a match-winning hat-trick while fellow defender Gurjant Singh also netted for India. The Indian team made 26 attack circle penetrations in the match as well as edged out the possession stats.
Para Table Tennis
Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel 3–0 Akanisi Latu (Fiji) – Women’s Singles Classes 3-5 Group 1
Baby Sahana Ravi 0–3 Qian Yang (Australia) – Women’s Singles Classes 6-10 Group 1
Sonalben Patel 3-1 Chinenye Obiora (Nigeria) – Women’s Singles Classes 3-5 Group 2
Raj Aravindan Alagar 3–1 Dan Bullen (England) – Men’s Singles Classes 3-5 Group 2
Para Powerlifting:
Sudhir won India’s first gold in para powerlifting at Commonwealth Games. He defeated Nigeria’s Ikechukwu Obichukwu (133.6 points) by 0.9 points as his final score read a Games record 134.5 points for the gold.
Earlier in the day, Indian para powerlifters failed to win a medal. Manpreet Kaur started with a successful lift of 87kg, scoring 88.6 points in her first attempt. In the second attempt, she lifted 88kg, scoring 89.6 points. In the last attempt, she failed to lift 90kg.
Para-Powerlifter Sakina Khatun failed to lift 90kg in her first attempt. Khatun successfully lifted 90kg in her second attempt, scoring 87.5 points.
The pair finished just outside the podium places with totals of 89.6 Kg and 87.5 Kg. India’s Manpreet Kaur and Sakina Khatun finish 4th and 5th respectively.
In the men’s category, Parmjeet Kumar started his event with a failed attempt of a 165kg lift. The Indian lifter was again unsuccessful to lift 165kg. Even in his last attempt, he failed to lift, thus ending the event at the bottom of the table.
