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| Indian paddlers register easy victories on Day 2 of CWG | | |
Indian paddlers continued their rampaging form as the men`s and women`s teams blanked Guyana and Kenya 3-0 respectively in the group stage of the table tennis team competition at the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Friday.
After thrashing Vanuatu 3-0 on the opening day, the Indian men`s team continued their good showing with Anthony Amalraj brushing aside Shamar Britton 11-4 11-3 11-3 to give his side an early lead.
Young Soumyajit Ghosh then beat Christopher Franklin 11-8 11-5 11-9 to make it 2-0 in India`s favour. Sanil Shankar Shetty and Amalraj then paired up to get the better of Paul David and Franklin 11-8 11-6 11-5 to complete the rout.
The women`s team, surprise silver medallists in Delhi four years ago, too dished out a dominating performance with Poulomi Ghatak inflicting a 11-4 11-3 11-5 defeat on Jinita Azad Kumar Shah to give India a 1-0 advantage.
Manika Batra, 19, then trounced 39-year-old Sejal Dipan Thakkar 11-7 11-4 11-4 in the second match.
Ankita Das and Poulomi Ghatak then joined hands to complete the proceedings for India with a 11-6 11-5 11-5 win over Della Mgenya Njani and Sejal at the Scotstoun Sports Campus here.
Commonwealth Games: India men's hockey team defeats Wales 3-1
India on Friday began their Commonwealth Games men`s hockey campaign with a facile 3-1 win over lowly Wales in a Pool A tie at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre here.
In what was a lazy and lacklustre beginning, India at half-time were held to a 1-1 scoreline by Wales, who are ranked 22 places below in the FIH Rankings. But a much better second half performance that saw two goals being scored put India through.
V.R. Raghunath opened the scoring for India from a penalty corner in the 20th minute. But his opener was cancelled out just three minutes by a stinging shot from Andrew Cornick.
It was another penalty corner post-break that gave India the lead for the second time in the match. R. Singh was at hand in 42nd minute to turn the ball into the back of the net.
Gurwinder Singh Chandi put the match beyond Wales in the 47th minute from India`s first open-play goal in the match.
India, who have been clubbed alongside Wales, Scotland, and South Africa besides world champions and reigning gold medallist Australia, will next take on the hosts Saturday before taking on mighty Australia July 29, followed by their last pool encounter against South Africa slated for July 31.
Paralympic Committee of India contemplates life ban on para-athlete Sachin Choudhary
Even as confusion prevailed over how para-athlete Sachin Choudhary came here as a part of the Indian Commonwealth Games contingent without dope clearance, the Paralympic Committee of India was contemplating a life ban on the powerlifter.
Choudhary checked in at the Athletes Village here as part of the Indian contingent but made a hasty return home on the pretext of deteriorating health of his ailing father. However, it is now confirmed that he failed a dope test conducted last month by the National Anti-Doping Agency and the PCI said it was mulling to even hand him a life ban. "Sachin`s dope sample taken by the NADA on June 23 was found to be positive for a banned substance and now he will give his B sample. We will take a decision after the result of B sample comes. We don`t tolerate doping by our athletes," PCI Secretary J Chandrasekhar said.
"Surely, we will punish him and we are even thinking of slapping a life ban on him," said Chandrasekhar, though it is not known whether an athlete can be handed a straight life ban on his first dope offence.
Chandrasekhar said that Choudhary`s return to home was in a way good luck for India as his presence at the Athletes Village would have been a shame and disaster for the country as the Glasgow 2014 dope team took urine sample from all the para-athletes yesterday.
"In a way it was good luck that he returned home and we are heaving a sigh of relief. Because, I have been told by the team management in Glasgow that samples of all the para-athletes were taken by the dope testing team.
"Suppose Sachin was there and he was caught, then that would have been a disaster and shame for India. The country`s image is above everything," he said.
"Sachin said he was taking some injection for treatment of his elbow and that might have led to the banned substance going into his body. But I have enquired from some doctors and they said it may not be the case. In any case, we are taking strong action so that these things do not happen in future.
"Before leaving for Glasgow, all the para-athletes had signed an agreement in front of our president that discipline will be maintained during the Games and incidents like doping will not be tolerated. So we are thinking of handing out deterrent punishment," he said, adding that the banned substance was not a steroid.
Malaika Goel wins silver medal in shooting
Unheralded 16-year-old Malaika Goel gave India their first shooting medal with a silver in the women`s 10m Air Pistol event while favourite Heena Sidhu fell by the wayside at the 20th Commonwealth Games today. Goel shot an aggregate of 197.1 in the finals to finish second and grab her first senior international medal after a close fight for the gold on the opening day of shooting competitions at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre at Dundee.
Singapore`s Shun Xie Teo won the gold, shooting 198.6 in total, a Final Commonwealth Games Record while Canada`s Dorothy Ludwig was a distant third with a 117.2 effort.
Former world number one and a pre-competition favourite Heena Sindhu finished a disappointing seventh after topping the qualifications. She was the second shooter to be eliminated in the eight-women field in the final round. Goel, who qualified for the final round at fourth, had a great start and she was leading till the fifth of the seven round elimination stage. She lost her way in the last two rounds to finish second.
The youngster from Patiala was way above the rest in the first two rounds of the first competition stage as she had a total of 61.7 as against Shun Xie`s 58.0 and Dorothy`s 60.1 with five over-10 scores and one 9.9 shot.
Goel, who is taking part in her first Commonwealth Games, had two very bad shots in the first two rounds of the elimination stage as she could only come up with 8.8 and 8.6 and the gap at the top was closed down. At that stage, Canada`s Dorothy was at second and she even jumped to the top spot in the fifth round of the elimination stage only to be left out in the penultimate round to secure a bronze. The two rank-bad shots in the first two rounds of the elimination stage apparently created pressure on Goel and she was beaten in the final stretch of two rounds by a consistent Shun Xie who shot just five below-10 shots in the whole of elimiation stage and among them two were 9.9. Sidhu, on the other hand, was third before the elimination round started but she could not come up with any 10-plus shot later on to be eliminated in the second round of the final stage.
Indian cyclists continue to disappoint at CWG
Indian cyclists` dismal show continued at the Commonwealth Games as they failed to qualify for the finals of both Men`s 4000m Individual pursuit and Women`s 3000m Individual pursuit events on second day of the track cycling competition, here on Friday. In the men`s 4000m individual pursuit, three Indians -- Manjeet Singh, Sombir and Amit Kumar -- finished poorly at 16th, 17th and 18th place respectively in a field of 19 cyclists. Pakistan`s Muhammad Shakeel did not start the contest, so technically the three Indians finished at the bottom of the table at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The first four cyclists have qualified for the finals with Australia`s Jack Bobridge finishing on top with a timing of 4:19.211 seconds.
Manjeet clocked 4:55.164, while Sombir`s timing was 4:57.202 and Amit finished last after clocking 4:58.444. In women`s 3000m individual pursuit, Sunita Yanglem failed to make the cut after finishing 17th with a timing of 4:07.614 in a field, which witnessed 19 cyclists contesting. |
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