Indians at the CWG: Debutant lifter Sivalingam adds to India's gold tally

Indian weightlifter Satish Sivalingam scripted history in his debut Commonwealth Games, breaking the Games record en route to a gold medal, while compatriot Ravi Katulu took the silver in the men's 77kg event in Glasgow on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Satish, the 2013 Commonwealth Championships gold medallist, lifted a total of 328kg (149+179) to pip the 2010 CWG gold medallist Ravi, who had to be content with a silver medal following an effort of 317kg (142+175).

Australia's Francois Etoundi bagged the bronze with a lift of 314kg (137+177) at the Clyde Auditorium.

Satish's 149kg lift in Sntch lift erased the earlier record of 148kg held by the 2010 Commonwealth Gold medalist Yuko Peter of Nauru.

India ran away with the day's honours in weightlifting as Punam Yadav had won a bronze in women's 63kg earlier in the day with a total lift of 202kg (88+114).

India have now bettered their 2010 CWG performance in weightlifting winning nine medals (3-2-4), one more than the eight (2-2-4) in Delhi.

Both Ravi and Sathish performed tactically and began their snatch after most of the other competitors had made their three attempts by keeping the starting weight at 142kg.

Sathish was the first of the two Indians to come out and he easily lifted 142kg but Ravi Kumar failed to do so at the same weight. Ravi, however, had a clean lift of 142kg in his second attempt.

Commonwealth Games 2014

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England's Jack Oliver then set the tempo for a keen contest as he lifted 142kg in his second attempt but failed to clear 145kg in his third.

Satish made another clean lift of 146kg before Ravi made an unsuccessful attempt to go ahead by trying 147kg.

With one lift left for him, Satish went for 149kg in his attempt to break the Commonwealth Games record and he did it yet again in style and punched in the air in delight.

In clean and jerk also, Satish and Ravi followed the same script as they began their attempts by keeping the starting weight high.

This time though, Ravi came out ahead of Satish and he lifted 175kg straightaway to jump to the top before Etoundi was successful in his attempt of 177kg to place himself in second spot.

Satish came out and thought he had lifted 178kg but the judges ruled that it was a no-lift. Not to be bogged down by the decision of the judges, Satish went for 179kg and he lifted it to regain the top spot.

Ravi went for 185kg in his second attempt but was unsuccessful and that ensured gold for Satish. He attempted 186kg in a bid to break the Games record in total lift but failed to do so.

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Elsewhere, boxers Sumit Sangwan (81kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) entered the quarter-finals of their respective categories after contrasting wins.

Sumit comfortably defeated Mohammed Hakimu Fumu  3-0 to set up a clash against New Zealand's Davis Nyika on Tuesday.

Manoj also booked a berth in quarter-finals of the men's 64kg category with a 2-1 win over Canada's Arthur Biyarslanov. Manoj next faces Brit Samuel Maxwell.

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There was bad news for India’s table tennis fans as India's top singles player Achanta Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai were tamed by an energetic Liam Pitchford as India lost the men's team table tennis semi-final 1-3 to England.

Kamal, ranked five places above Pitchford at number 50, lost the opening singles match 4-11, 11-8, 11-9, 5-11, 6-11 to leave India trailing in the best-of-five game semi-final.

Paul Drinkhall made it 2-0 for England when he trounced Anthony Arputharaj 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 in the second singles.

Anthony combined with Harmeet to bring India back in the contest by winning the men's doubles 7-11 16-14, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11.

The 21-year-old Harmeet then took the court for the do-or-die fourth match and looked down and out after losing the first two games tamely but turned it around by winning the next two to take to deciding fifth set.

However, 21-year-old Pitchford, who played exceptionally well, edged past the Indian with a final scoreline of 11-5, 11-6, 10-12, 10-12, 17-15.

India will now take on Nigeria, who lost 1-3 to Singapore, in the bronze medal match on Monday. England will clash with Singapore for the top prize.

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In badminton, star players Parupalli Kashyap and Jwala Gutta failed to create magic as India were blanked 0-3 by a dominant England in the mixed team semi-finals.

Jwala and Akshay Dewalkar began India's campaign but could not put the country ahead, losing the mixed doubles 16-21, 21-16, 11-21 to the British combination of Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock in 52 minutes.

India needed Kashyap, silver medallist at 2010 Games, to level the contest but he went down fighting 16-21, 19-21 to Rajiv Ouseph in the singles in 47 minutes in the second match.

Akshay and Pranav Chopra then lost the crunch men's doubles match 21-12, 13-21, 16-21 to Chris and Andrew Ellis, ending all Indian hopes.

India will now attempt to win bronze medal when they clash with Singapore, who lost 2-3 to Malaysia.\

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Young markswoman Shreyasi Singh was the best performer of the day for India with her silver medal winning feat even as shooter Mohammed Asab and weightlifter Punam Yadav added a bronze each to India's collection on the fourth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games.

The 22-year-old Shreyasi gave ample display of her potential by winning a silver in the women's double trap event. The shooters have now contributed nine medals in India's overall tally of 20 so far.

Mohammed Asab was the other shooter who provided cheer for the strong Indian contingent by claiming the bronze medal in the men's double trap event at the Barry Buddon Centre at Dundee.

Later in the day, Punam lifted a total of 202kg to claim a bronze in the women's 63kg category. The 19-year-old (88+114) from UP finished third behind Nigeria's Olayuwatoyin Adesanmi and defending champion Obioma Okoli, who lifted 207kg each.

With the addition of these medals, India's overall medals tally has swelled to 20 with five gold, eight silver and seven bronze and continued to maintain their fifth position on the medals table.

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Shreyasi shot down a total target of 92 to bag the silver, two shots behind gold winner Charlotte Kerwood of England. Another Englishwoman Rachel Parish won the bronze with 91 points, after a shoot-off with Cynthia Meyer of Canada.

A not-so-impressive first round of 22 points saw Shreyasi trailing at the third spot after the third and penultimate round but the Delhi shooter recovered some lost ground in the final round. to win the silver at the Barry Buddon Centre at Dundee.

With Kerwood, in whose name the Commonwealth Games record of 106 points (at 2006 Melbourne) stands, struggling in the final round, Shreyasi was in with a chance to go for a shoot-off for the gold but missed the double target twice to settle for the white metal. Shreyasi had rounds of 22, 24, 23, 23.

The other Indian in the fray, 20-year-old Varsha Varman finished fifth with 88 points (22, 19, 24, 23).

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In the men's double trap event, the 26-year-old Asab from Meerut shot 26 in the finals to pip Nathan Xuereb of Malta, who managed 24.

Asab was placed fifth in the qualifications while another Indian shooter in the event, Ankur Mittal had to be contend with a fifth-place finish in the finals. Mittal qualified second for the finals.

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Punam, who won a bronze in junior Asian Championship early this year, then gave India more reasons to smile by winning bronze after an intriguing fight with Olayuwatoyin Adesanmi and defending champion Obioma Okoli.

The two Nigerian athletes totalled 207kg, five kilos more than the Indian, but was awarded gold as her body weight was one kilo less than the defending champion at 62kg.

Punam's best lifts in Snatch came in third attempt while in Clean and Jerk her best effort was in second attempt. After starting with 85kg, Punam ended her Snatch attempts with a final lift of 88kg.

In the Clean and Jerk, the 19-year-old Punam began with 110kg, then improved it to 114kg in the second attempt but her last attempt of 117kg could not materialise.

Another Indian, Vandana Gupta, finished fourth in the same event as she ended with a total of 198kg. Her best lift in Snatch was 91kg in her third attempt and in Clean and Jerk she could manage only 107kh as her two later attempts of 110kg failed.

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The Indian women's table tennis team, runners-up in Delhi four years ago, failed to win a medal after losing the bronze play-off to Australia at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.

The 23-year-old Ziyu Zhang starred for Australia by winning her two singles, against the experienced Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Patkar respectively. Zhang's come from behind victory in the fourth rubber against Patkar helped Australia seal the tie 3-1.

Patkar and Kumaresan had lost the preceding doubles rubber against Jian Fang Lay and Miao Miao to trail 1-2 in the match.

Zhang gave Australia the early advantage by packing off Kumaresan 11-5, 2-11, 11-6, 11-9 in the opening singles. The chubby-looking Chinese-born paddler used her expansive forehand to good effect and was equally potent with her backhand.

For India, the lone bright spot was Manika Batra's convincing win over Fang Lay, an opponent more than double the Delhi girl's age. The 19-year-old foxed the 41-year-old Australian with smart use of pimples for a 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 win.

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Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal qualified for the semi-finals of the 50m men's breaststroke event after finishing third in his heat at the Tollcross Swimming Centre.

Sejwal finished third in Heat 3 with a timing of 28.17 seconds behind Mark Tully of Scotland (27.22s) and Kiwi Glenn Snyders (27.45s) to secure his place in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, India's Sajan Prakash finished a disappointing sixth in Heat 5 of men's 100m butterfly event.

Prakash looked ordinary and could only manage a timing of 55.58s in his heat.

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However, there was disappointment in store for India's women hockey team as they were blanked 0-3 by world number four New Zealand.

India shot-putter Om Prakash Karhana has qualified for the final with his best throw of 18.98m. He finished eighth in the qualifying.

Meanwhile, M Povamma has qualified for the semi-finals of the women's 400m semi-finals after clocking 54.01 while Shradha Narayan also reached the semi-finals of the women's 100m with a timing of 11.39s.