Vijender, Manoj win
Star Indian boxer Vijender Singh and Manoj Kumar on Saturday made resounding start to their campaigns at the CWG winning their respective bouts with identical 3-0 scorelines, here. Vijender punched his way to the pre-quarterfinals with a unanimous verdict over Andrew Kometa of Kiribati in the 75kg bout while Manoj beat Mokhachane Moshoshoe of lesotho with the same margin in the 64kg category. Vijender was fast in his movement in his first bout of the Games and played to a plan, emerging victorious without taking much risk. Vijender, 28, was cautious initially but went on the attack mode after getting a measure of his opponent. He lowered his guard and kept attacking. A right hook in the third round and then a flurry of punches from Vijender towards the end rattled the uunfancied boxer from Kiribati. Two out of three judges gave 10-8 verdicts in favour of Vijender in both the second and third rounds, indicating his dominance over Kometa.
5 gold winning teenager
A 17-year-old Canadian who also holds Russian citizenship has won five of the six gold medals in rhythmic gymnastics. Vancouver-born Patricia Bezzoubenko, based in Thornhill, Ontario, near Toronto, but who trains regularly with the Russian gymnastics team in Moscow, won the individual all-around title and the team title with Canada.She then won three of the four individual apparatus events on Saturday - the clubs, hoop and ball - on the final day of the event at the Hydro building near the River Clyde in central Glasgow. Attempting to make it six golds in six events, Bezzoubenko finished third in the ribbon. Francesca Jones of Wales won gold in the ribbon and Wong Poh San of Malaysia the silver. Jones also finished with five silver medals.
feat by Ghosal & Pallikal India’s leading squash players Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal secured hard fought victories to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Commonwealth Games for the first time. Fourth seed Ghosal had a narrow escape against Australian Steven Finitsis as he recovered from 6-7 down in the fifth and deciding game to pull off a 11-2, 11-5, 4-11, 6-11, 11-8 victory at the Scotstoun Sports Campus on Friday evening. With this victory, Ghosal became the first Indian to reach the singles quarterfinals since the sport was introduced in the Games programme in 1998. He next plays 12th seed Campbell Grayson of New Zealand late on Saturday night. .
NOISE ANNOYS ATHlETES
The spirit of the so-called Friendly Games hasn’t extended to everyone in Glasgow. Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford isn’t happy with some of his neighbors at the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village. The English athlete wrote on Twitter on Saturday that “being in an athletes village is great until the ignorant athletes make more noise than a herd of elephants startled in a china shop.” Rutherford complained about “some serious big feet banging around,” saying that “some people are determined to annoy every other athlete around them.” Teammate Bianca Williams was equally annoyed, replying to Rutherford by describing door slamming as “inconsiderate.” But Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said “we’ve had absolutely no complaints whatsoever.” Rutherford tweeted Saturday morning that “strong words will be said soon.”
Eves win 3-0 over NZ
The Indian women’s table tennis team blanked New Zealand, a side full of Chinese-origin players, to march into the semifinals. Shamini Kumaresan starred in India’s 3-0 win over New Zealand. They face Singapore, whom they lost to at Delhi Games to settle for silver, in the semi-finals later on Saturday. The ploy to play Shamini in the first singles against 52-year-old Chun li worked. The Indian played a solid match to beat 2002 singles Commonwealth Games champion and five-time Olympian 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5. Delhi girl Manika Batra, who plays with a pimpled rubber, outsmarted Chunl li’s sister Karen 11-13, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to give India a 2-0 cushion.