Jhandu Kumar’s bronze brings cheer after Tulika Maan doping shock

Jhandu Kumar’s bronze in para powerlifting provided India the much-needed cheer after its Commonwealth Games campaign was jolted by the doping-related suspension of judoka Tulika Maan even before the competitions got underway here.

Until Kumar’s success late in the evening in the men’s heavyweight competition, doping remained the big talking point in India’s campaign as last edition’s silver medal-winning judoka Maan stood suspended even before landing in Glasgow due to three whereabouts failures. The country, though, was already assured of one medal after Olympic bronze-winning boxer Lovlina Borgohain got a bye into the middle-weight (75kg) semifinals.

From Bihar’s Harnaut village to international success: Kumar overcame a childhood marked by polio, poverty and years of odd jobs to fetch the bronze in the Scottish city, delivering the country’s first medal of the competition.

The 28-year-old amassed 130.9 points to finish on the podium after successfully lifting 181kg and 190kg. He failed his final attempt of 196kg. The other Indian in the fray, Sudhir (114.1), finished sixth. Nigeria’s Idris Riluwan scored 132.8 points to win the gold while Matthew Harding (131) took home the silver medal. Kumar’s triumph capped a remarkable rise from Harnaut village in Bihar’s Nalanda district, where he helped his parents sell vegetables to support the family after contracting polio at the age of five.

Easy for Jadumani in boxing: In boxing, Jadumani Singh registered a facile win against local favourite Aaron Cullen in the men’s 55kg contest. Fighting in front of a partisan crowd, Jadumani was technically and tactically too strong for Cullen, beating the Scot by a unanimous decision to move to the pre-quarters, where he will take on Sumama Rehman of Pakistan.

Good outing in lawn bowls: India’s lawn bowls contingent continued its impressive start with both entries registering victories in their respective sectional matches to strengthen their chances of progressing to the knockout stage.

Women’s pairs combination of Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh notched up their second successive win in Section B, defeating South Africa’s Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui Janse van Rensburg 2-0 (6-4, 7-5). The Indian duo had opened their campaign with a victory over Malta on Thursday.

In the men’s singles, Putul Sonowal also maintained his unbeaten run by overcoming Falkland Islands’ Cecil Alexander 2-1 in a closely-fought contest that was decided in a tie-break.

Swimmers miss out on podium: India’s swimmers endured a disappointing day with none managing to make the finals in the conventional events, while para swimmers also missed out on podium finishes despite advancing in the men’s S13 100m freestyle medal round.

National record holder Srihari Nataraj qualified for the men’s 50m backstroke semifinals after progressing from the heats but could finish only seventh in his semifinal to bow out of medal contention.

In para swimming, Karthik Budigina and Ali Imam advanced to the men’s S13 100m freestyle final after negotiating the heats. Budigina came closest to a medal, finishing fourth in the final, while Imam ended further down the field. 

Tapan, Yogeshwar qualify in gymnastics: Tapan Mohanty and Yogeshwar Singh qualified for the men’s all-around final after finishing 17th and 18th respectively in the artistic gymnastics competition.

Mohanty totalled 71.700 points, while Yogeshwar was close behind at 71.400. Both secured berths in the 24-man all-around final, subject to the two-per-country qualification rule.

In the apparatus events, Swathish Kaitheri Puthalath was named second reserve for the rings final after scoring 12.450, while Yogeshwar was also second reserve in the vault with 12.600. India finished seventh in the men’s team competition with a cumulative score of 208.550, trailing champions Canada by 32.850 points.

Difficult start: The scaled-down nature of the Games ensured that India didn’t have much to look forward to, at least in the first half of the second day’s competitions.

Among the early highlights was two-time Olympian swimmer Nataraj advancing to the men’s 50m backstroke semifinals even though he was joint 14th in the 16 who qualified for the next round.

Nataraj, however, could not clear the semifinals.

Back in India, Maan’s ouster added another embarrassing chapter to the country’s chequered doping record. Considered one of the strongest medal hopes in the +78kg category, Maan had to withdraw due to her anti-doping indiscretion for which she now stares at a two-year ban.

Her provisional suspension came a day after another judoka, Arun Kumar (-73kg), was withdrawn after testing positive for a banned steroid. The duo’s ouster reduced the judo team’s strength to 12, including six men and as many women.

It was relatively quiet in the powerlifting arena for a good part of the day. Ashok Malik finished fourth in the men’s lightweight category after collecting 143.8 points, an effort which was not enough to be in the medal bracket.

Mark Swan of England won the gold with 153.9 points while Roland Ezuruike (153.9 points) of Nigeria and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (153.5) of Malaysia took the silver and bronze respectively.

Another Indian in the fray, Paramjeet Kumar, finished seventh overall with 135.6 points.

In the previous Games, a four-member Indian contingent had come back with one gold medal through Sudhir in the men’s heavyweight division. However, he was later banned for two years for an anti-doping rule violation and his medal forfeited.

Earlier, Nataraj qualified for the men’s 50m backstroke semifinals, finishing joint 14th in heats. Nataraj, who holds multiple national records, clocked 25.52 seconds alongside Bermuda’s Jack Harvey, just about making the semifinal start list, which comprises the top 16 from heats.

The Indian was fifth in his eight-man heat.