Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj picked up the silver medal in the men's doubles table tennis while Seema Punia won in women's discuss throw in the Commonwealth Games 2014 on Friday.
Sharath, three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and Amalraj lost 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 5-11 in 33 minutes to the Singaporean pair at the Scotstoun Sports Campus.
It was the first medal for India from the sport in the 2014 Games.
However, it was the end of the road for other Indian paddlers.
Though India's rising star Soumyajit Ghosh defeated Li 11-5, 2-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 in the Round of 16, he later went down to England's Liam Pitchford 11-7, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 9-11 in the men's singles quarters.
Earlier, Harmeet Desai also lost his men's singles Round of 16 to Zhan 12-14, 6-11, 10-12, 11-13.
In women's doubles, Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Patkar overcame Australians Zhenhua Dederko and Ziyu Zhang 3-2 in the Round of 16 but went down 10-12, 10-12, 11-8, 2-11 in the last eight clash to England's Joanna Drinkhall and Kelly Sibley.
Ankita Das and Paulomi Ghatak also lost their last 16 match to Malaysia's Lee Wei Beh and Soch Khim 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11.
Seema won the silver medal with her season's best performance while her compatriot and defending champion Krishna Poonia finished a disappointing fifth.
It was the second medal for India from track and field, a day after men's discus thrower Vikas Gowda won the historic gold at the Hampden Park Stadium.
Seema hurled the disc to 61.61 metres to win the silver. She had won the bronze in the 2010 Games where India clinched all the three medals from the event. Seema had also won the silver in the 2006 Melbourne Games.
The gold went to 2009 World Champion Dani Samuels of Australia and England's Jade Lally took the bronze.
Four Indian boxers -- L. Sarita Devi, L. Devendro Singh, Mandeep Jangra and Vijender Singh -- made it into their respective gold medal bouts after Pinki Jangra lost her semi-final to settle for the bronze medal.
To start the proceedings, former World Champion Sarita proved too good for Mozambique's Maria Machongua to win all four rounds of two minutes each in the women's 57-60 kg semi-final at the SECC Hall.
Not only that, the veteran had a perfect 40 points from all three judges while her opponent had to settle for the bronze. In the final Saturday, the 32-year-old Manipuri cop will take on Australia's Shelley Watts for the gold.
Sarita's state-mate Devendro also delivered a brilliant performance to beat Welsh Ashley Williams 3:0 in the men's 49 kg last four bout. The 22-year-old Indian earned a maximum of 30 points from each of the three judges to enter the summit clash.
The diminutive Indian faces a tough task next against defending champion Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland in the gold medal contest.
Haryana's Jangra then came out on top against Northern Ireland's Steven Donnelley in the men's 69 kg semi-final. After sharing the first two rounds, Jangra attacked Donnelley to come out the winner and will take on England's Scott Fitzgerald in the final.
In-form Olympic bronze medallist Vijender also came out with a stupendous performance to beat Connor Coyle of Northern Island 3:0 on points. The two-time Commonwealth Games medallist had a perfect score of 30 points in each round to Coyle's 27 in the men's 75 kg bout.
Earlier, Pinki brought home India's first medal from the discipline at the 2014 Games when she lost her women's 48-51 kg semi-final to take home the bronze.
The Haryana pugilist gave a tough fight to Michaela Walsh but the Northern Ireland woman's height and better reach helped her win all four rounds.
While Judge A gave both the boxers a total of 38 points, Judge B gave Michaela a perfect 40, four more than Pinki. Judge C too ruled in favour of Michaela, awarding her 39 points to Pinki's 37.
In squash, India's star squash players Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa lived up to their names and potential to enter the women's doubles final.
The Indian duo defeated Australia's Kasey Brown and Rachael Grinham 11-9, 7-11, 11-4 in the semis to enter the gold medal contest at the Scotstoun Sports Campus. They will take on English pair Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro in the final Saturday.
Earlier, the pairs of Saurav Ghosal-Pallikal and Harinder Pal Sandhu-Chinappa bowed out from their respective mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Sandhu and Chinappa won the first game 11-7 but went on to lose the second 8-11 to New Zealand pair Martin Knight and Joelle King. Knight and King were more dominant in the last game, taking the decider 11-6 to proceed to the semi-finals.
Later, Ghosal and Pallikal lost their last eight clash in straight games to Australian duo David Palmer and Rachael Grinham 6-11, 9-11.
Indian shuttler R.M.V. Gurusaidutt came out with a brilliant performance to oust Malaysian top seed Chong Wei Feng and enter the men's singles semi-finals.
Second seeds Parupalli Kashyap and P.V. Sindhu as well as defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also notched up quarter-finals wins at the Emirates Arena. But fourth seed Kidambi Srikanth and sixth seed P.C. Thulasi had to bite the dust as their campaigns came to an end.
Fifth seed Gurusaidutt needed to bring out his best game on the day, which he did to beat the top seed Malaysian 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 in a marathon match which lasted an hour and seven minutes.
The diminutive Indian will take on Singapore's Derek Wong Saturday, who got the better of rising start and fourth seed Srikanth.
Wong won the first game 21-10 before losing the second 12-21. But when it mattered most he conquered Srikanth 21-12 in the decider in the match which lasted 50 minutes.
Earlier, second seed Kashyap also had an easy 21-13, 21-14 victory in 38 minutes to proceed to the semis. The 2010 Delhi Games bronze medallist is aiming to go one better when he takes on England's third seed Rajiv Ouseph Saturday.
In the absence of top seed Saina Nehwal, No.2 seed Sindhu routed New Zealand's Anna Rankin in straight games in the women's singles quarter-finals to enter the last four in her first appearance at the Games.
World No.11 Sindhu notched up a comfortable 21-10, 21-9 win in 24 minutes and will take on Canadian fourth seed Michelle Li in the semis.
But Sindhu's friend and compatriot Thulasi went down to Malaysian Jing Yi Tee 21-18, 19-21, 19-21 in the last eight clash.
Third seeds Jwala and Ashwini routed Sri Lankans Achini Rathnasiri and Upuli Weerasinghe 21-10, 21-9 in 22 minutes to enter the last four.
Comments
0 comment