Sakina bags powerlifting bronze
Glasgow: Karnataka’s Sakina Khatun did India proud by winning a bronze medal in the women’s lightweight (upto 61 kg) powerlifting event here on Saturday. The Bangalore-born powerlifter finished behind Nigeria’s Esther Oyema (Gold) and England’s Natalie Blake (Silver) settle at third position. The Indian lifted a total weight of 88.2 kilograms, while Esther lifted 136kgs and Natalie managed 100.2kgs. Sakina, 25, gave India their first medal on Day 10 of the competition with the nation still placed fifth in the medals tally with 54, including 13 gold, 25 silver and 16 bronze. On cloud nine after winning bronze, Sakina Khatun said, “I’m elated. I came here to win a medal, so this is fantastic. I’ve been getting a lot of support from the people here and from the people of India — they will be very pleased,” said Khatun.
Seema wins silver in discuss
Seema Punia bagged a silver for India while defending champion Krishna Poonia finished a disappointing fifth in the women’s discus throw competition at the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Friday night. Seema, who had won a bronze in 2010 Delhi Games and a silver in 2006 Melbourne, threw the discus to 61.61m, her season’s best, to grab the silver while a struggling Krishna could just come up with a below-par effort of 57.84m. Seema achieved her best throw in the penultimate attempt after coming up with 53.64m, 58.87m and 58.62m in her first three throws. Her fourth and final attempts were foul throws.’ The 31-year-old Seema from Haryana has now won a medal in each of the last three Commonwealth Games. Former world champion Dani Samuels won the gold comfortably with a throw of 64.88m which she achieved in her third attempt. Jade lally of England won the bronze with a best throw of 60.48m. Meanwhile, Sahana Kumari finished a disappointing eighth in the women’s high jump finals with a best effort of 1.86m. Sahana has a personal best of 1.92m and season’s best of 1.89m. Eleanor Patterson of Australia won the gold with 1.94m. Meanwhile, it was curtains for India in the men’s 4x400m relay event after the quartet of Kunhu Muhammed Pathanpurakkal, Jithu Baby, Jibin Jibin Sebastian and Arokia Rajiv was disqualified in the preliminary round. The women’s 4x400m relay team, however, made it to the finals even though they finished fifth in the Round One Heat number two. The quartet of Debashree Mazumdar, Tintu luka, Ashwini Akkunji and M R Poovamma clocked 3:33.67s and qualified eighth and last overall. Women’s 4x100m relay team of Sharadha Narayan, Asha Roy, Srabani Nanda and H M Jyothi also qualified for the final round despite finishing fifth in the heat with a time of 44.41s.
Rs 30 lakh award for TT winners
Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday announced a cash award of Rs 30 lakh each to the duo of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj from Tamil Nadu for winning silver medal in the men’s doubles table tennis event of the CWG in Glasgow. “You have done both the nation and state of Tamil Nadu proud by winning a Silver Medal in the Men’s doubles event of Table Tennis at the ongoing Commonwealth Games,” she said in identical congratulatory letters to the duo.