NEW DELHI: It was the turn of the Indian Archers, wrestlers and shooters to dazzle while the Indian Hockey players also excelled to book their semi-final berth by beating Pakistan. But the goodnews came just a shortwhile ago when India’s Tennis hope Somdev Devburman defeated Australia’s Greg Jones 6-4, 6-2 to win the gold. Now we bring the reaction from Somdev Devburman.
Earlier, Indian Archers won two gold medals helping the hosts to maintain the second position in the overall Medals tally. In a do or die pool match against Pakistan, India defeated their traditional rivals this evening decisively in every sphere of the game. India was on the offensive from the first whistle and scored two goals in the first five minutes of play. In the high-scoring match, India found the target seven times, while Pakistan managed to score four goals. The Dhyan Chand Stadium was packed to capacity to watch the crucial encounter.
In free style wrestling, world champion Sushil kumar grabbed the gold in 66 kilogram category outwitting his opponent Heinrich Barnes of South Africa. With 29 gold medals in kitty, India are just one short of their best-ever performance in the Commonwealth games, which happened in Manchester 8 years ago. The sterling performance of the athletes in the current 19th edition of the games has seen India bettering their 2006 Melbourne games record which had a haul of 22 gold. Australia continue to dominate the Games, with 56 gold and England are in the third position with 25 gold medals. The first gold of the day for India came when Indian Woman archer Deepika Kumari won the recurve category. Deepika defeated England’s Elison Williamson in the final. A victorious Deepika said she had put in her best to grab the gold.
Dola Banerjee won a bronze in the same event. After Deepika’s win, it was Rahul Banerjee’s turn to win the gold in the men’s recurve event. Rahul defeated Canada’s Jason Lyson. The bronze in the event went to India’s Jayanta Talukdar. Harpreet Singh gave India another gold in the Men’s 25 metres Centrefire pistol shooting. He said despite stiff competition, he managed to wrest the gold.
Vijay Kumar added a silver in the same event. In trapshooting, Manavjeet singh Sandhu bagged a bronze. In freestyle wrestling, India’s Anuj Kumar managed to get a silver medal after losing to Pakistan’s Mohammed Inam in the 84 kilogram category. Anil kumar grabbed the bronze in the 55 kg wrestling. The gold went to Azhar Hussain of Pakistan and it was the first gold for them. Joginder Kumar has also won a silver in the super heavy weight category of wrestling.
Indian wrestlers disappointed today when they lost two out of three final matches in men’s free-style wrestling. Sushil Kumar. in an electrifying atmosphere, defeated Heinrich Barnes of South Africa by 2-0 in 66 kilogram category. Anuj Kumar lost his match to Pakistan’s Mohd. Inam in three bouts and has to satisfy with the Silver only. Joginder Kumar, in 120 kilogram category, has to be contented with Silver. In 55 kilogram category, Pakistan’s Azhar Hussain defeated Ebikew Welson of Nigeria to win the Gold. Silver went to Welson and the Bronze was won by Indian wrestler Anil Kumar. However, despite today’s drought of gold in wrestling, this event has contributed 10 Gold, five Silver and four Bronze into India’s medal telly.
In Boxing, Jai Bhagwan and Dilbagh Singh have entered the semifinals, while 2006 games gold medalist Akhil kumar suffered a shock defeat. In women’s 112 kilometres Cycling race, the gold and silver went to Australia while New Zealand bagged the bronze. In the discus throw event, Vikas Gowda bagged a Silver medal.
It is turning to be the best performance of Indian Athletes in international sports. With four more days to go , the hosts are just two gold medals short of its best ever performance in the commonwealth games. It was a day in which archers joined the gold medal winners. Sixteeen year Deepika and Rahul Banerjee contributing two. Harpreet won the the 13th gold in shooting for the hosts. World and Asian wrestling champion Sushil kumar added the commonwealth Gold to his kitty. However, India lost two other matches in the mat. Another heartbreak was in boxing, as 2006 games winner Akhil kumar lost in the quaterfinals. The other boxers made it to the semifinals with Vijendra Singh standing out knocking out his opponent. India still holds on to second place but England is breathing down its neck. Three gold is all that seperates them. From a statistical point of view , the 19th edition has seen 81 Games records being broken till yesterday, the highest number in commonwealth games history.
Now we have the latest medal tally. Australia 61 gold 35 silver and 36 bronze. India 29 Gold, 22 Silver and 22 bronze. England 25 gold 45 silver and 30 bronze.
