India at CWG, Day 3: Sathish gives India third gold, draw for men’s hockey

NEW DELHI: India began their Day 3 campaign of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast with weightlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam winning gold in the men’s 77kg event which extending the country’s overall medal tally to five. Sathish, who had also won a gold four years ago is Glasgow, lifted a combined effort of 317kg, to become the first Indian weightlifter to bag back-to-back gold medals at the Commonwealth games.

In the women’s 63kg event, weightlifter Vandna Gupta finished fifth with a combined effort of 180 (80 in snatch and 100 in clean & jerk).
The Indian men’s hockey team conceded a goal in the dying minutes and drew their CWG 2018 opener against Pakistan 2-2. With India leading 2-1, Pakistan scored from the set-piece in the 59th minute to salvage a thrilling draw.

India struck in the 12th minute through a field goal from young Dilpreet Singh and later doubled their lead when Harmanpreet Singh successfully converted a penalty corner. Pakistan pulled one back in the third quarter as Mohammad Irfan Jr. snuck one past PR Sreejesh. India managed to hold their nerves even as their opponents kept attacking in the final two minutes. The last piece of attack came from Ali Mubashar after the TV umpire awarded Pakistan a controversial PC. Mubashar’s low flick flew past a diving Sreejesh as the Pakistan dug out broke into wild celebrations.
Kicking off the day, the Indian paddlers had another formidable outing against Malaysia. Both men’s and women’s team dished out a 3-0 thrashing to their respective opponents and booked themselves each a place in the semifinals. In the women’s team quarterfinal, Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar notched up individual wins over Ying Ho and Karen Lyne, whom they beat 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 and 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3. Patkar and Mouma Das picked up the bones and beat Ho and Ai Xin Tee 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7.

India struck in the 12th minute through a field goal from young Dilpreet Singh and later doubled their lead when Harmanpreet Singh successfully converted a penalty corner. Pakistan pulled one back in the third quarter as Mohammad Irfan Jr. snuck one past PR Sreejesh. India managed to hold their nerves even as their opponents kept attacking in the final two minutes. The last piece of attack came from Ali Mubashar after the TV umpire awarded Pakistan a controversial PC. Mubashar’s low flick flew past a diving Sreejesh as the Pakistan dug out broke into wild celebrations.
Kicking off the day, the Indian paddlers had another formidable outing against Malaysia. Both men’s and women’s team dished out a 3-0 thrashing to their respective opponents and booked themselves each a place in the semifinals. In the women’s team quarterfinal, Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar notched up individual wins over Ying Ho and Karen Lyne, whom they beat 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 and 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3. Patkar and Mouma Das picked up the bones and beat Ho and Ai Xin Tee 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7.

The act was followed perfectly by the men during their quarterfinal matches. Harmeet Desai started off well against Chee Feng Leong, getting the better of him 11-4, 12-10, 11-6. Achanta Sharath also registered a win over Muhammad Ashraf Haiq 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 to give India a 2-0 lead before Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran completed the sweep with a 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 win over Javen Choong and Chee Feng Leong in men’s doubles.
It was then up to the Indian shuttlers to continue India’s good work. And they did exactly that against Malaysia in the mixed team quarterfinals, beating them 3-0 to make the semifinals. The men’s doubles team of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty beat Aatish Lubah and Christopher Jean Paul 21-12, 21-3. The women’s doubles team didn’t lag behind either with Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy registering a rather comfortable 21-8, 21-7 win over Aurelie Marie Elisa Allet and Nicki Chan-Lam. Kidambi Srikanth completed the rout and defeated Georges Julien Paul 21-12, 21-14.

In swimming, India’s Srihari Nataraj qualified for the next phase by finishing third in Men’s 50m Backstroke during the first Heat. Meanwhile, Sajan Prakash bettered his own national record of 1:59.10, with a new timing of 1:58.87 in the men’s 200m butterfly. However, there was disappointment at the Artistic Gymnastics event, where India’s Yogeshwar Singh finished 14th in men’s individual all-around final. In the cyling track men’s sprint qualifying event, India’s Sanuraj Sanandaraj, Ranjit Singh and Sahil Kumar finished 20th, 21st and 22nd.