After staying just ahead of England for most of the day, India lost the second spot to end at third position after England’s Louise Hazel scored 6,156 points from her seven events to claim gold in the Commonwealth Games heptathlon Saturday night.
Earlier, India’s high-flying marksmen and freestyle grapplers kept India just ahead of England with a four-gold haul in their fierce contest to grab the second position behind front runners Australia in the Games.
Rifle ace Gagan Narang, centre fire pistol-wielding pair Vijay Kumar and Harpreet Singh and wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s 60kg) and Narsingh Pancham Yadav (men’s 74kg) snapped up gold medals in impressive fashion to take the host country’s gold tally to 24.
Then Hazel’s heptathlon win equally the gold haul of the two nations. But England overtook India on account of a richer harvest of silver and bronze medals.
Still, this is India’s second-highest gold medal tally in Games history, which was six short of the record 30 at Manchester in 2002.
Sania Mirza, India’s best bet in women’s singles, won the silver medal when she lost to Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova in three sets in the final. While Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won bronze in the men’s doubles event at the Games, beating compatriots Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
A lot of action still remains, just past the halfway mark of the Games.
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Hyderabad-based Narang, who has been the pick of the shooters at the Dr Karni range, added the men’s 50m rifle 3-position gold medal to the 25m centre fire pistol men’s pair gold claimed by Kumar and Harpreet earlier in the day.
It was also Narang’s fourth gold of the meet, made with a Games record aggregate 1,262.2, was one short of Samaresh Jung’s five-gold feat in 2006 at Melbourne. He has the chance to overhaul Jung’s record haul on October 12 and 13 in the 50m prone (pairs and individual) event and become the new “Gold Finger”. Kumar and Harpreet won the pistol event with a total effort of 1,159, well short of Jaspal Rana-Ashok Pandit’s 1,168 made in Victoria (Canada) in 1994.
India won bronze, too, at the same range, when Suma Shirur and Kavita Yadav stood third in the women’s 10m air rifle pairs event logging 785. In all, the shooters have secured 21 medals (12-7-2), five short of the record 26 gained at Melbourne in 2006.
Grappler Yogeshwar Dutt defeated Canada’s James Mancini 9-2 in the 60kg freestyle gold medal bout while Yadav beat South Africa’s Richard Bri Addinall in the 74 kg title-deciding fight.
The other two bronze medals that came India’s way during the day were grabbed by 20km walker Harminder Singh in a career-best 1 hour, 23 minutes, 28 seconds in the men’s road event, and the men’s table tennis outfit which blanked Nigeria 3-0 in the bronze medal tie.
India plucked an unexpected bronze in the 20km walk for men held simultaneously on the roads of Central Delhi when Harminder Singh finished a creditable third behind Aussies Jarred Tallent, winner of two walk medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Luke Adams in a career best 1:23:28. After the walk gold, England moved up the pecking order because of the larger number of silverware won, but as has been the custom in these Games the country’s marksmen responded in splendid fashion to put India ahead in the gold tally.
On the wrestling mat, freestyle exponents Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s 60kg) and Narsingh Pancham Yadav (men’s 74kg) entered the final after beating England’s Sasha Madyarchyk and Canada’s Evan MacDonald in the semi finals, respectively, before clinching the gold. Anil Maan (96kg) lost his preliminary bout to Leon Gregor Rattigan of England.
In boxing, Asian champion Suranjoy Singh and Amandeep Singh assured India of at least two medals by advancing to the semifinals with contrasting wins.
