Medal rush starts as Indian athletes win five medals on first day of CWG 2014
India launched their campaign in the 20th Commonwealth Games with a flourish with judokas Navjot Chana and Shushila likmabam assuring the team of at least two medals while the paddlers, shuttlers and squash players had easy outings on the opening day of competitions here on Thursday.
India launched their campaign in the 20th Commonwealth Games with a flourish with weightlifters K Sanjita Chanu and S Mirabai Chanu bagging a gold and silver, respectively, in a display of overwhelming domination after the judokas assured of at least two silver medals here on Thursday.
In women’s 48kg weightlifting on the opening day of competitions, Sanjita won with a total lift of 173kg (77+96), while Mirabai grabbed the silver with a cumulative effort of 170 (75+95) in the absence of other strong competitors. Nigeria’s Nkechi Opara was a distant third with 162 (70+92).
Sanjita’s total of 173kg missed the Games record, held in the name of 2010 CWG gold winner Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo (175kg effort) by two kilograms. Sanjita’s 77kg effort in snatch however equalled Nwaokolo’s CWG record.
The contest was all but over at the halfway snatch stage with 20-year-old Sanjita and 19-year-old Mirabai lifting 77kg and 75kg while Opara could come up with 70kg. The Nigerian’s attempt to give a fight to the Indian duo failed as she could not lift 75kg in her third attempt in snatch.
It was basically a contest between the two Manipuris in an event which India had dominated for long in the Commonwealth Games from the days of Kunjarani Devi.
Also on Thursday, Indian judokas Navjot Chana and Shushila likmabam had to be contend with a silver medal each after they failed to clear the final hurdle in the men's 60kg and women's 48kg events, respectively.
There was a bronze medal for Kalpana Thoudam who won on the basis of conceding lesser penalty points against Christianne legentil of Mauritius.
In the men's 60kg event, Chana, a 2010 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist, lost to Ashley McKenzie of England in the final.
The Indian lost on the basis of penalty points (shido). Chana was handed three penalty points as against one by the Englishman. Both earned the same number of wazari points.
Earlier in the day, the Punjab judoka had faced a tough challenge from top-ranked Australian judoka Tom Pappas in the first round before winning on the basis of more yukos at the end of the five-minute bout though both of them got a penalty point each.
Navjot then knocked (Ippon) out B Dodge of Wales in the quarterfinals and went on to thrash D le Grange of South Africa in another Ippon (knockout) result in the second minute of the semifinal bout.
Shushila (women's 48kg) showed tremendous form en route to the final round by knocking out her rivals on Ippon verdicts. She, however, was no match to Scotland's Kimberly Renicks in the final.
The local judoka, egged on by her home fans, knocked down the Indian in the third minute of the final round bout with an Ippon (knock-out) verdict.
The Manipuri judoka began her campaign by thrashing M Medza Effa of Cameroon in just one minute 41 seconds before knocking out A Meyer of Australia in similar fashion in the quarter-finals.
She made it to the final after another thrashing, of her semifinal opponent, C Rayner, also of Australia, in an Ippon verdict in the third minute.
The men's bouts are of five minutes while the women fight for four minutes. An Ippon (knock-out) or two wazari result in immediate conclusion of the bout.
Judo made a return in the Commonwealth Games after the 2002 Manchester event. This is the third time judo has been included in the Games, the first one being in 1990 in Auckland. India had won two medals in both 1990 and 2002.
While the swimmers and cyclists failed to make much of an impact, it turned out to be a relatively sweat-free day for the paddlers, shuttlers and squash players as they trounced their first round opponents.
In badminton, India spanked minnows Ghana 5-0 in a Group B match of the mixed team event. India hardly broke any sweat asstar campaigner and the face of men’s badminton Parupalli Kashyap started the proceeding, thrashing Daniel Sam 21-6 21-16 in a 27-minute men’s singles match to put his team in the driver’s seat right from the start.
World Championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu, the country’s best-known face in the absence of Saina Nehwal who won the gold in New Delhi four years ago, then taught Stella Amasah a lesson or two in badminton with a 21-7 21-5 victory in the women’s singles competition to give India a 2-0 lead.
Men’s doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Chopra thrashed Emmanuel Donkor and Abraham Ayittey 21-7 21-11 in just 22 minutes to make it 3-0 in India’s favour. Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa then took another 17 minutes to brush aside Evelyn Botwe and Diana Archer as India continued their rampaging run.
Finally, P C Thulasi and Kidambi Srikanth — both singles players — paired up and trounced another makeshift combination of Sam and Amasah 21-5 21-9 in a mixed doubles match to put an end to Ghana’s misery at the Emirates Arena.
Indian men and women’s table tennis team made a comfortable start by defeating Vanuatu and Barbados respectively at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.
The women’s team, surprise silver medallists in Delhi four years ago, blanked Barbados 3-0 courtesy a clinical performance by Shamini Kumaresan, Manika Batra and Madhurika Patkar.
India’s top player Sharath Kamal was rested for men’s team opener against Vanuatu.