Commonwealth Games 2014: Grapplers, Vikas Gowda give 3 golds; India move to 5th spot

Mangalore Today News Network

glasgow,Aug 02, 2014(PTI):  Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Kumari breezed their way to gold medals as wrestlers signed off on a high, while Vikas Gowda gave India its first athletics gold of the 20th Commonwealth Games by winning the men’s discuss throw event, here.

While Yogeshwar (men’s 65kg freestyle) and Babita Kumari (women’s 55kg) won golds on Thursday, Geetika Jhakar (women’s 63kg) failed to match her compatriots and managed a silver on the wrestling mat for India.

Pawan Kumar also bagged a bronze in men’s 86kg freestyle wrestling to round off a fine show for the grapplers.

Karmakar creates history

It was good news for Indians in other disciplines as well as young Dipa Karmakar scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games by bagging a bronze in the vault event.

By virtue of three golds, one silver and two bronze medals, India moved up to fifth in the medal standings with a total haul of 47 medals – 13 gold, 20 silver and 14 bronze.

England were at the top of the chart with a total of 126 medals followed by Australia (114), Canada (65) and Scotland (43).

Meanwhile, India’s Tintu Luka failed to qualify for the finals of the women’s 800m race after finishing seventh in the eight-contestant first semi-final.

In the women’s discuss throw event, defending champion Krishna Poonia qualified for the final despite finishing 11th in the qualifying round with a best effort of 51.36m.

Another Indian in fray, Seema Punia also made it to the final round after finishing second with a best throw of 58.44m.

Shuttlers advance

Indian shuttlers had a good day in office as P V Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, R M V Gurusaidutt and P C Thulasi all qualified for the quarterfinals.

Reigning women’s doubles gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also made it to the quarterfinals after beating Australian combination of He Tian Tang and Renuga Veeran.

However, it turned out to be mixed results for Indian paddlers. While ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj marched into the men’s doubles semi-finals, Kamal and Shamini Kumaresan experienced a bitter loss against Reed and Kelly Sibley in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.

Indian squash players Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa also will feel contended with their performances as the duo sailed into the women’s doubles semi-finals.PTI