Unnati bags bronze, India’s record CWG haul in judo rises to four medals
Indian judoka Unnati Sharma clinched the bronze medal in the women’s 63kg event to continue the country’s historic run at the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.
Unnati defeated South Africa’s Skye Knoester by ippon, wrapping up the contest in just 1 minute and 7 seconds with a decisive move, hooking her leg to unbalance Knoester before throwing her cleanly onto her back to earn an ippon — the highest score in judo — and seal the bout instantly.
The Indian had earlier gone down to Australia’s Saya Middleton in the semifinal but bounced back strongly to secure a place on the podium with an emphatic victory.
The bronze was India’s fourth medal in judo, continuing the country’s best-ever Commonwealth Games campaign in the sport.
The historic run was led by Harsh Singh (men’s -60kg) and Asmita Dey (women’s -48kg), who became India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games judo gold medallists with twin titles on Saturday.
Yamini Mourya added a silver in the women’s -57kg category, giving India their record haul.
India will have a chance to add to their record tally on the concluding day on Sunday, with Ishroop Narang (women’s -78kg), Avtar Singh (men’s -100kg) and Yash Ghangas (men’s +100kg) all in medal contention.
In the final bout of the day, India’s Harsh Tokas narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the men’s -81kg judo, losing to Australia’s Keishin Ochi by ippon.
The contest began cautiously, with both judokas receiving a Shido for passivity within the opening 18 seconds. Tokas picked up a second Shido midway through the match as neither fighter was able to gain a clear advantage.
With 43 seconds remaining, Ochi seized his opportunity, executing a quick throw that sent Harsh onto his back to score an ippon and seal the bronze.
Tokas earlier suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat to Cyprus’ Odysseas Georgakis, who clinched the bout with a yuko. Tokas, though bounced back by winning against Peniamina Percival in the repechage.
It was also the end of the road for Inunganbi Takhellambam (women’s -70kg) and Karanjit Singh Maan (men’s -90kg), who could not cash in on the chance they got through repechage rounds.
Karanjit lost the men’s -90kg last-eight clash to Canada’s Guillaume Gaulin, conceding the defeat by ippon after defeating New Zealand’s Elliott Connolly by ippon in three minutes and 29 seconds. He later lost the repechage round to home favourite Scott Cusack.
Inunganbi lost to Canada’s Charlie Thibault by ippon in three minutes and 23 seconds after conceding a yuko earlier in the contest.
She faced England’s Jemima Yeats-Brown in the repechage contest but could not utilise the opportunity to her advantage.
Earlier, Unnati opened her campaign with a dominant Round of 16 victory over Eswatini’s Lamulela Magagula, sealing the contest by ippon in just one minute and 39 seconds after scoring two successive waza-ari.
She then edged past New Zealand’s Qona Christie in the quarterfinal, prevailing by waza-ari after also registering a yuko to book her place in the last four.
