Gold Coast, April 11 (IANS) Indian shooters extended their purple patch as Shreyasi Singh won gold in the women’s Double Trap event, Ankur Mittal and Om Mitharwal bagged bronze in their respective men’s categories, while star boxer M.C. Mary Kom (48kg) stormed into the final and the men’s hockey team scored a thrilling win over England. The badminton, table tennis and squash teams had a satisfactory day at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.

Shreyasi edged out Emma Cox of Australia in a shoot-off to win the title after both shooters had finished the final round on 96 points each.

Varsha Varman, the second Indian in the fray, missed out on the bronze by a narrow margin. She scored 86 to finish fourth, just a single point behind bronze medallist Linda Pearson of Scotland.

Among the men, Mittal took bronze in men’s Double Trap and Om finished third in men’s 50 metre Pistol.

In boxing, India were assured of nine medals which is their best tally at the Commonwealth Games.

Boxers Gaurav Solanki, Vikas Krishan Yadav and Manish Kaushik entered the semi-finals while M.C. Mary Kom stormed into the final, even as Sarita Devi and Pinki Rani crashed out.

Gaurav defeated Charles Keama of Papua New Guinea in a unanimous 5:0 verdict in the quarter-finals of the men’s flyweight (52 kilogram) category while Vikas coasted to an easy win over Benny Muziyo of Zambia in the 75kg category. Manish also advanced, defeating Calum French of England in 60kg.

In the women’s category, five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist M.C. Mary Kom defeated Anusha Dilruksh of Sri Lanka.

Gaurav came up with an impressive performance against three-time Oceania champion Charles Keama of Papua New Guinea to claim a well-deserved victory.

Vikas also registered a comfortable 5:0 victory over Benny Muziyo of Zambia in the last eight stage.

The duo thus confirmed another couple of medals to the Indian tally as every boxer in the last-four stage is assured of a spot on the podium.

In badminton, India’s star singles shuttlers and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the pre-quarterfinals.

Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu thrashed Fiji’s Andra Whiteside 21-6, 21-3, while 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal routed South African Elsie De Villiers 21-3, 21-1.

Three-time World championship medallist Sindhu will meet Wendy Chen Hsuan-yu in the next round, while Saina’s challenger will be Jessica Li of the Isle of Man.

In the men’s singles Round-of-32, H.S. Prannoy beat Mauritius’ Jean Paul Christopher 21-14, 21-6, while Kidambi Srikanth beat Mauritius’ Aatish Lubah 21-13, 21-10.

On Thursday, Prannoy will battle it out with Anthony Joe, while Srikanth will face Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka.

The mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini beat England’s Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh 21-17, 21-16.

The Indian pair will meet Canada’s Kristen Tsai and Nyl Yakura on Thursday for a place in the quarters.

Coming to hockey, the men’s team scored two goals in the final three minutes to overcome England 4-3 in a thrilling match to top Pool B. India have already sealed their berth in the the semi-finals.

Manpreet Singh (32nd), Rupinder Pal Singh (51st), Varun Kumar (58th) and Mandeep Singh (59th) scored for India while England got their goals from David Condon (17th minute), Liam Ansell (52nd) and Sam Ward (56th).

Following the win in their final Pool B game, India have 10 points — three more than second-placed England.

Meanwhile, India’s campaign in table tennis competition also got off to a good start with singles and team players advancing to the next stage.

The disappointments on the day were mixed doubles pairs Harmeet Desai and Pooja Sahasrabudhe as they were ousted.

Indian para paddlers also had the mixed outings as Maitreyee Sarkar thrashed her opponent Vero Nime while Vaishnavi went down 0-3 to Nigerian Faith Obazuaye in group 2.

The day started with para paddlers Maitreyee Sarkar and Vaishnavi Sutar, who had a mixed outing in their respective women’s TT6-10 singles group matches.

While Maitreyee thrashed Papua New Guniea’s Vero Nime 3-0 in group 1, Vaishnavi went down 0-3 to Nigerian Faith Obazuaye in group 2.

In women’s doubles Round-of-32 match, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe outclassed Mauritius pair of Ruqayyah Kinoo and Sanjana Alix Ramasawmy 3-0.

The Indian pair had a comfortable outing while whipping off the opponents 11-3, 11-4, 11-4 in straight games.

Indian men’s doubles duo of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shankar Shetty also advanced to the round of 16.

Sharath and Sathiyan entered the round of 16 after thrashing Kiribati duo Tauramoa Miita and Nooa Takooa 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-6) while Harmeet and Sanil beat Guyana’s Shemar Britton and Christopher Franklin 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-7).

The other men’s doubles pair of Harmeet and Sanil too had an easy outing against the Guyana combo, who failed to put up a challenge in any of the three games.

India’s veteran duo of Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das also advanced to the round of 16 in mixed doubles competitions

But it was curtains for the other mixed doubles pair of Harmeet Desai and Pooja Sahasrabudhe, who lost their round of 32 tie 1-3 (6-11, 6-11, 11-3, 9-11) to Malaysia’s Javen Choong and Karen Lyne.

Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran also advanced to the last 16, with a fighting 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 13-11) win over Chee Feng Leong and Ying Ho in mixed doubles match.

Madhurika Patkar and Sanil Shankar Shetty, then joined forces to beat Sri Lankan pair of Buwaneka Jayasingha Mudiyanselage and Erandi Warusawithana 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-5) in straight games.

The singles players also witnessed a good outing on the seventh day of the meet.

India’s Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das advanced to round of 16 after winning both their respective singles matches.

In men’s singles category, Harmeet Desai, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran came out victorious to enter the Round-of-16.

At squash events, India’s women’s double pair of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal advanced to the quarter-finals while the men’s doubles and mixed double pairs also registered victories in their respective games.

Defending champions Dipika and Joshna advanced outclassing Wales pair of Tesni Evans and Deon Saffery 2-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-8) in a 30-minute battle to top their Pool.

The Indian pair had an easy outing in the first game that lasted for a mere eight minutes but were made to struggle in the second which the Wales’ duo managed to pocket in 10 minutes.

In the third game, Dipika and Joshna used their class and experience to clinch the affair in 10 minutes.

Later, in a 15-minute pool-match against Malta, which was just a formality for the Indian pair, Dipika and Joshna beat Dianne and Colette in straight games 2-0 (11-5, 11-6).

They will now face Canada’s Samantha Cornett and Nikki Todd on April 13.

In the men’s doubles event, India’s Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon defeated Wales duo- Peter Creed and Joel Makin 2-1 (11-7, 8-11, 11-10) in Pool F.

The duo will face Sierra Leone’s Ernest Jombla and Yusif Mansaray in the second match of pool F on Thursday.

Joshna, who joined Harinder Pal Sandhu for the mixed doubles, overcame a tough Scottish challenge 2-0.

The Indian pair faced a stiff challenge from Scotland’s Lisa Aitken and Kevin Moran in the 28-minute long match at the Oxenford Studios.

After narrowly winning the first game 11-10, Joshna and Chinappa once again faced a tough fight in the second game however, the Indian pair managed to carve out a 11-8 win.

The Indian pair will now take on Amanda Landers Murphy and Zac Millar of New Zealand in the Round of 16 on April 12.

In athletics, high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and quarter-miler Hima Das finished sixth in the final of their respective events. In the women’s long jump qualifying round, Nellickal V. Neena 6.24 and Nayana James entered the final with a attempt of 6.24 and 6.34 respectively

In the lawn bowls event, India experienced a miserable campaign on day 7 losing all their matches at Broadbeach.

–IANS
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