Commonwealth Games 2010 Day 1: India end the day with four medals
By Victor D’Souza, Doha
Various media sources
Bellevision Media Network
05 October 2010: Hosts India opened their medal account in Commonwealth Games weightlifting competition when Soniya Chanu bagged a silver medal and Sandhya Rani Devi clinched a bronze in the women’s 48 kg class at the Jawaharlal Nehru sports complex on Monday. Chanu cleared 167 kg to stand second in the event behind Nigerian woman Augustina Nwaokolo who hoised 175 kg to win the contest. She also created a new Games record.
Sandya Rani took the bronze with a total clearance of 165 kg. Chanu and Nwaokolo were tied with the same clearance of 94 kg in the snatch competition but the latter, who weighed marginally less than the Indian woman, settled the issue in the clean and jerk category by clearing 8 kgs more. Indian men weightlifters won two more medals, in 56 kg Srinivas Rao got the bronze, Sukhen Dey got the silver. Amirul Ibrahim of Malaysia got the gold.
Dey gave a stiff competition to Games record holder Hamizan Amirul Ibrahim of Malaysia before settling for a silver at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium five kgs short of the winner’s effort. Ibrahim cleared 257kg and Rao lifted 248kg for the bronze medal. Ibrahim, in the process, claimed the first gold medal for his country while also setting a new Games record of 116kg in the snatch, surpassing his personal best of 115. He lifted 141 in clean and jerk.
India have drawn with Scotland 1-1 in women’s hockey. The hosts will be disappointed but they at least managed to salvage a draw. South Africa, also in the same group, earlier in the day beat Trinidad and Tobago 12-0.
In tennis, Rohan Bopanna kicked off the day with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 victory over Uganda’s Robert Buyinza to sail into the last 16 of the men’s singles and Rushmi Charkravathi soon made it two in a row for India, dropping only one game in beating Pinki Agnes Montlha of Lesotho 6-0, 6-1 as tennis made its debut at the Games. Poojashree Venkatesha hardly broke a sweat during a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Lesotho’s Nthabiseng Eunicia Nqosa.
The only blemish in India’s campaign was the loss of Bopanna and Nirupama Sanjeev in the mixed doubles first round to top seeds Paul Hanley and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, though not before giving them a fright. It was a busy day for Bopanna, who was back in the court guiding an initially nervy Nirupama. After being outclassed in the first set, the Indian pair shifted gear in the second with Bopanna taking charge at the net. They, however, failed to carry the momentum in the decider, allowing the Australians to scrape through after a nearly two-hour-struggle.
In the other tennis mixed doubles Leander Paes and Sania Mirza rounded off a successful opening day for India with a facile 6-1, 6-0 victory over Saint Lucia’s Stacey Nykita Roheman and Alberton Richelieu to enter the mixed doubles quarterfinals in the Commowealth Games tennis here on Monday. Second seeds Sania and Paes, who won gold in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, were excited to team up after four years.
In Badminton, India drubbed Kenya 5-0 in their opening Group D fixture of the badminton mixed team event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games on Monday. It was a cakewalk for the Indian team which won the bronze in Melbourne in 2006. In the men’s singles, Chetan Anand defeated Victor Odera Munga 21-7, 21-13 before Saina Nehwal thrashed Mercy Mwethya Joseph 21-11, 21-4.
The men’s doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas made it 3-0 with a 21-5, 21-5 win over Odera Munga and Patrick Kibet Ruto. Ashwini Ponappa and Aparna Balan then defeated Mercy Joseph and Anitha Bushuru Alube 21-8, 21-6. The mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta made it a clean sweep with a 21-8, 21-5 victory over Fredrick Gituku and Anna Ngambi. The other teams in Group D are Wales, Scotland and Barbados.
India also made a winning start in table tennis but suffered a major blow in another racquet sport, squash, when their no. one woman player Dipika Pallikal pulled out following a bout of mild fever. Three other men players — Sourav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Siddharth Suchde progressed to the round of 32.
Indian women, seeded second in the table tennis team event, started their campaign on a resounding note by blanking Sri Lanka 3-0 in Group D at the Yamuna Sports complex. Mouma Das, Shamini Kumareshan and reigning national champion Poulomi Ghatak won their matches without dropping a game. The Indian eves have to play against New Zealand and Ghana in the group.
In swimming relay, led by India’s biggest hope -- Virdhawal Khade, the India quartet clocked 3:28.06 to make a cut for the final of the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle relay, after they finished sixth in their event at SPM Aquatics Complex, here on Monday. The other three members of the team are Aaron Dsouza, Arjun Jayaprakash and Anshul Kothari. India could make their presence felt in two more categories, even as most of them failed to advance further.
In men’s 50m backstroke, Badrinath Melkote clocked 27.52 to qualify for the semifinals, while Subha Chittaranjan clocked 29.96 to enter the last four stage in women’s 50m butterfly. However, India put up a disappointing show in all other categories, including women’s 200m freestyle, men’s 400m freestyle, women’s 200m individual medley, men’s 200m butterfly, women’s 50m breaststroke, as none of the swimmers could qualify in these events. Meanwhile, a formidable Australian team, followed by England and Canada have already established their dominance in the pool.
Indian archers began their campaign in style, with the men’s and women’s recurve teams finishing on top ahead of Tuesday’s elimination round. Rahul Banerjee and Jayanta Talukdar topped the men’s section, while Deepika Kumari and Dola Banerjee dominated the women’s field. Former world champion Deepika scored 609 and that was enough to claim top position in women’s individual recurve section, with compatriot Dola Banerjee finishing second best.
Members of the Pakistani weightlifting team threatened to pull out of the Games after a verbal showdown between weightlifter Shujauddin Malik and the leader of the contingent, Muhammad Ali Shah, over carrying the Pakistani flag at the opening ceremony. Shah is also the Sports Minister of southern Sindh province. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered an inquiry into the embarrassing scuffle that saw a top sports official snatch the national flag from a sportsperson designated as the flag-bearer during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Australia, though, the clear winner on the opening day of the Games. There were eight golds on offer and they claimed four of them. And to be fair, no one would have expected less. Australia, favourites to top the medals tally. lived up to the billing as they won four golds - and they were only eight on offer on Monday. With three of those four golds coming in the pool, they also got one in artistic gymnastics where they came from behind to pip England.
The medal tally at the end of day 1, as follows:
|
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
Australia |
4 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
|
Canada |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
|
South Africa |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Nigeria |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
England |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
|
India |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|
Wales |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Scotland |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |