Indians at CWG: Lifters Sukhen, Sanjita win gold; rousing start to India's campaign

Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu stole the limelight by clinching a gold each in weightlifting, as India launched their campaign in the 20th Commonwealth Games with a flourish, winning seven medals, on the opening day of competition in Glasgow.

The 25-year-old Dey lifted a total of 248kg (109+139) in the men's 56kg. He trailed at the halfway snatch stage, but came back strongly in clean and jerk to win the gold and cap a remarkable day for the Indians at the Clyde Auditorium.

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The 21-year-old Mali was leading after the snatch but slipped behind in clean and jerk to settle for bronze with a total lift of 244kg (111+133).

Malaysia's Mohd Pisol Zulheimi was fourth after the snatch but recovered in fine fashion to bag the silver with a total lift of 245kg (108+137).

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It was a display of overwhelming domination in the 48kg women's weightlifting by the Indians, as apart from Sanjita's gold, S Mirabai Chanu bagged the silver medal to make it a one-two for last edition's hosts.

In the women's 48kg weightlifting, Sanjita won with a total lift of 173kg (77+96), while Mirabai grabbed the silver with a cumulative effort of 170 (75+95) in the absence of other strong competitors.

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Lifter Sanjita's total of 173kg missed the Games record, in the name of 2010 CWG gold winner Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo (175kg effort), by two kilograms.

Sanjita's 77kg effort in snatch, however, equalled Nwaokolo's CWG record.

The contest was all but over at the halfway snatch stage with 20-year-old Sanjita and 19-year-old Mirabai lifting 77kg and 75kg.

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India's good show in the weightlifting arena continued as young Andhra Pradesh girl Santoshi Matsa grabbed the bronze medal in the women's 53 kg category at the Commonwealth Games on Friday.

This is India's fifth medal from the weightlifting event after winning two gold, a silver and a bronze on the opening day of the event.

The 20-year-old Santoshi lifted a total of 188 kg in snatch and clean and jerk to get the bronze as 16-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl Chika Amalaha won the gold with a total lift of 196 kg. Veteran Papua and New Guinea lifter Dika Toua, who is a mother of two, took the silver with a total lift of 193 kg.

India's Swati Singh, who was placed third at the end of the snatch event finished fourth with 183 kg. It was second time that Swati missed out on a podium having finished fourth during the last edition in the last edition.

Santoshi tried a lift of 109 kg on the third clean and jerk attempt but failed. The successful attempt wouldn't have ensured anything more than bronze though as both Amalaha and Toua went on to break the Games Record with a lift of 111 kg each in the clean and jerk section.

Swati, on her part, failed on two attempts to lift 103 kg and 106 kg respectively as she had to settle with a total score of 183 kg.

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Judokas Navjot Chana and Shushila Likmabam had to be content with a silver medal each after failing to clear the final hurdle in the men's 60kg and women's 48kg events respectively.

There was a bronze for for another judoka, Kalpana Thoudam.

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Indian shuttlers launched their Commonwealth Games campaign on a resounding note, blanking minnows Ghana and Uganda 5-0 in Group B matches of the mixed team event.

Having thrashed Ghana in their opener, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa crushed M Nankabirwa and D Nakal Yango 2-0 to set the tone against Uganda.

Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Chopra beat E Ekiring and W Tukre 2-0.

P C Thulasi blanked M Nankabirwa 2-0 while K Shrikanth thrashed E Kiring by similar margin in the singles rubbers.

V Pusarala and RMV Gurusaidutt also won 2-0 against W Tukire and D Nakal Yango to complete the rout.

Earlier in the day, India hardly broke any sweat as Parupalli Kashyap started the proceeding, spanking Daniel Sam 21-6, 21-16 in a 27-minute men's singles match to put his team in the driver's seat right from the start.

World Championship bronze medallist P V Sindhu then taught Stella Amasah a lesson or two in badminton with a 21-7, 21-5 victory in the women's singles competition to give India a 2-0 lead.

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While the swimmers and cyclists failed to make an impact, it turned out to be a relatively sweat-free day for the paddlers, shuttlers and squash players as they trounced their first round opponents.

The men's paddlers, later in the day, saw off second round opponents Northern Ireland 3-0, with A Sharath Kamal and Soumyajit Ghosh convincingly winning their singles contests.

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The Indian women's hockey team got off to a rollicking start as it comfortably beat Canada 4-2 in their opening Group 'A' match.

Seasoned Rani Rampal opened the scoring in the 22ndminute and Poonam Rani added another goal in the 29th minute.

Jaspreet Kaur scored twice with successful drag flicks in the 37th and 52nd minute respectively.

For Canada, Brienne Stairs and Karli Johannsen were the scorers.

India are currently placed second in the group as South Africa walloped Trinidad and Tobago 16-0 in another group league match.

India dominated the match for the better part with Vandana Katariya, playing her 100th international, controlling the proceedings.

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.

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.

The first four have qualified for the finals of the event with England's Joanna Rowsell emerging on top, clocking 3:29.038 seconds. She also achieved the Games record in the process.

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Indian squash star Joshna Chinappa suffered a 1-3 defeat against World No. 4 Joelle King of New Zealand in the round of 16 to crash out of the women's singles competition at the 20th Commonwealth Games.

The 27-year-old from Chennai, who won the Winnipeg Winter Open trophy -- her maiden WSA world title in February this year -- lost 3-11, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11 against her third seeded opponent at the Scotstoun Campus.

King, who had won a silver and a gold in Delhi Games, started on an aggressive note winning the first two games. Chinappa tried to make a comeback and pocketed the third game but the New Zealander put it across the Indian in the fourth round comfortably.

Chinappa was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003.

Among other Indians, Dipika Pallikal, Sourabh Ghosal and Anaka Alankamony will play later in the day.

India has not won a squash medal since the sport's inception in the CWG programme in 1998.

Talented pugilist Mandeep Jangra started his Commonwealth Games campaign in style defeating Mozambique's Augusto Mathule in the 69 kg welterweight division bout.

However Parveen Kumar of India lost to Corey Henderson of Scotland in the Superheavyweight (+91 kg) category to bow out.

It was Jangra, who dominated the proceedings from the start as his opponent didn't have any answer to some of his deft hooks and uppercuts. In fact, Jangra followed his opponent effecting a knock down.

He got a perfect 10 from all three judges in the first and third round while he got 29 in round two. He was severe in the final round landing some straight punches which totally caught his rival unawares.

Jangra will next fight Jamaican boxer Kestina Davis in the round of 16 bout.

In the +91 kg bout, Parveen was no match for Henderson, who was buoyed by the local support as he landed some crushing punches which the Indian boxer failed to evade.

All three judges gave perfect 10 to Henderson in the first two rounds while the Scottish boxer managed 29 from round three. The Indian could manage only 28, 27 and 27 from his three rounds.

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India's Sandeep Sejwal finished a poor sixth in the first semi-final of the 100m breastroke as Indian swimmers continued their disappointing show in the Commonwealth Games.

Sejwal, finished fourth in the preliminary heat-3 with a timing of 1:02.97 secs to qualify for the semi-final.

However the Arjuna Award winner's performance in the semi-final dipped as his timing deteriorated from what he had clocked in the heats.

Sejwal finished sixth with a timing of 1:03.24 secs to bow out of the competition.

Out of the 16 swimmers, who qualified for the semi-finals. Sejwal's position was a lowly 12th as per the timings.