CWG July 30 wrap: Lovepreet adds silver as India finish with 8 weightlifting medals
It was another eventful day for India at the Commonwealth Games with Lovepreet Singh winning a silver in the men’s weightlifting 110+ catergory and Seema Kaliramna bringing home the bronze medal in women’s discus throw. Neeraj Chopra made it to the final of the javelin throw event alongside Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh while Tejaswin Shankar continued to make his push for a medal in the men’s decathlon.
India’s Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar notched up their third straight victory, overcoming Botswana in a tie-break after the two sides shared the opening two sets. National record holders Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu secured their places in the triple jump final.
However, there was disappointment in athletics as Parul Chaudhary, Animesh Kujur and Vishal TK failed to impress. The cycling contingent also had a day to forget.
LOVEPREET CAPS OFF FINE WRESTLING CAMPAIGN
Lovepreet delivered the finest performance of his career, rewriting the Commonwealth Games record with a 176kg snatch before finishing with an overall lift of 388kg (176kg+212kg). The Indian finished just a kilogram shy of New Zealand’s David Andrew Liti, who claimed gold with a total of 389kg.
The Punjab weightlifter appeared to be in complete control after opening up a 10kg advantage following the snatch. However, Liti mounted a stunning comeback in the clean and jerk, smashing the Games record with a final lift of 223kg. Lovepreet, needing 217kg to reclaim top spot, produced a brave attempt but was unable to complete the lift.
In the women’s +86kg category, 18-year-old Martina Devi showed remarkable resilience after failing her opening two snatch attempts. She stayed in the competition by clearing 105kg with her final lift before ending with a combined total of 245kg (105kg+140kg). Martina narrowly missed out on fourth place after unsuccessful clean and jerk attempts at 144kg and 146kg left her behind on countback.
The silver medal marked an improvement on Lovepreet’s bronze from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and brought India’s weightlifting campaign in Glasgow to a close with an impressive haul of eight medals—one gold, six silvers and one bronze.
While Mirabai Chanu’s title-winning effort accounted for India’s lone gold, the competition also highlighted the country’s growing depth in weightlifting. Rishikanta Singh and Raja Muthupandi impressed with silver medals, while Gyaneshwari Yadav and Bindyarani Devi justified the expectations surrounding them with strong performances.
Valluri Ajaya Babu and Harjinder Kaur also delivered encouraging displays, offering plenty of optimism for the future as India wrapped up a successful weightlifting campaign in Glasgow.
SEEMA BRINGS HOME BRONZE
India’s athletics contingent celebrated another podium finish as Seema Kaliramna secured bronze in the women’s discus throw with a best mark of 58.65m.
The 27-year-old endured a nervy competition, committing three consecutive fouls, but her third-round throw proved enough to seal a place on the podium. Seema, who returned to competition after becoming a mother last year while also pursuing a PhD, held on to third despite failing to register a legal mark with her final three attempts.
Cameroon’s Monie Nora Atim was unable to push Seema out of the medal positions, managing only 11.18m with her final effort. India’s Nidhi Rani narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with a best throw of 55.67m.
Jamaica’s Samantha Hall took the gold with the longest throw of the competition at 61.66m, while Canada’s Julia Tunks finished second after recording 60.67m.
TEJASWIN IMPRESSES
India also had reasons to cheer in the men’s triple jump, with national record holders Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu booking their places in Saturday’s final. Chithravel qualified second with a best leap of 16.41m, while Prabhu followed closely in third after registering 16.26m.
In the men’s decathlon, Tejaswin Shankar stayed firmly in the medal hunt by finishing the opening day in second place on 4,339 points after five events. The Indian trailed Canada’s Damian Warner by just 14 points, with the leader sitting on 4,353.
Shankar’s biggest contribution came in the high jump, his strongest discipline, where he cleared 2.15m to collect 944 points. He also impressed in the long jump, producing a leap of 7.82m that earned him 1,015 points.
India’s hopes of reaching two more track finals ended as Animesh Kujur and Vishal TK bowed out in their respective semifinals. Kujur finished sixth in the men’s 200m with a time of 20.65 seconds, while Vishal also placed sixth in the men’s 400m after clocking 46.33 seconds.
Running from lane one in the second semifinal, Kujur was well outside his personal best and national record of 20.32 seconds. His effort left him 10th overall among the 16 semifinalists, with only the top eight progressing to the final.
Ghana’s Joseph Paul Amoah topped the race in 20.24 seconds, narrowly beating Jamaica’s Jevaughn Powell in a photo finish after both recorded identical timings. Botswana’s Prince Phaezel Selepe also advanced automatically after finishing third in 20.31 seconds.
Parul Chaudhary’s horrid CWG campaign in Glasgow hit a new low as she finished 13th in the women’s 5000m final.
NAVNEET, DINESH POWER AHEAD
India’s men’s lawn bowls pair of Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar continued their unbeaten run at the Commonwealth Games, battling past Botswana in a tie-break to register their third straight win in Section B on Thursday.
The Indian duo looked in complete control after cruising to a 9-2 win in the opening set, but Botswana fought back to edge the second set 4-3 and force the contest into a tie-break.
Navneet and Dinesh, however, held their composure in the decider, delivering a series of precise bowls to seal the match and maintain their perfect record in the competition.
Playing as lead and skip respectively, the Indians dominated the opening exchanges, racing to a 6-0 advantage before comfortably wrapping up the first set. Botswana, represented by Kaizer Geche and Charles Diteko, turned the tide in the second set by scoring four shots in the fifth end to level the contest.
With momentum briefly against them, Navneet and Dinesh responded calmly in the tie-break to secure victory and strengthen their hopes of progressing to the knockout stage. The win leaves the Indian pair with three victories from as many matches in Section B, where they are grouped alongside England, Namibia, the Falkland Islands, the Cook Islands and Botswana.
In the day’s other Indian lawn bowls result, Nayanmoni Saikia went down 0.5-1.5 to Malaysia’s Emma Firyana Saroji in the women’s singles Section C encounter.
NEERAJ OVERCOMES TRICKY CONDITIONS
Neeraj Chopra, Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh all booked their places in Friday’s men’s javelin throw final after safely negotiating a challenging qualification round in windy conditions.
With strong gusts preventing any athlete from crossing the automatic qualifying mark of 84m, Chopra advanced with a best throw of 79.61m to finish fifth. Rohit followed in ninth with 78.37m, while Yashvir secured the final qualifying spot in 10th after recording 78.36m.
With none of the 16 throwers were able to breach the qualification mark of 85m on Thursday, setting up an interesting finale.
WAIT FOR SHOTPUT MEDAL CONTINUES
India’s wait for a maiden Commonwealth Games medal in the men’s shot put continued on Thursday as Asian Games champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Samardeep Singh Gill finished fifth and seventh respectively in the final.
Despite fielding two finalists, India was unable to break its medal drought in the event. Toor, who had qualified second and entered the competition as the country’s best medal hope, opened with a 20.06m throw to briefly move into third place before slipping down the standings.
Samardeep began with efforts of 19.56m and 19.63m before improving to 20.03m in the third round, but the mark was still below his personal and season’s best of 20.46m. Toor responded with a best throw of 20.27m in the fourth round but could not find the big effort required to challenge for a podium finish, ending with attempts of 20.26m and 19.79m.
New Zealand’s Tom Walsh set the early pace with a 21.03m opening throw, but Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi produced the decisive moment of the competition, launching 21.07m in the fifth round to clinch gold. South Africa’s Aiden Smith and New Zealand’s Nick Palmer also crossed the 20m mark as both Indians slipped out of medal contention.
India’s para cycling campaign endured a difficult day as teenage rider Lisha Das bowed out in the qualification round of the women’s C4-C5 4,000m individual pursuit. She clocked 6:58.000 to finish sixth, missing out on a place in the next stage.
The men’s team sprint unit of Rojit Singh, David Beckham and Ronaldo Singh also failed to progress, ending the qualification round in seventh and last place with a time of 46.396 seconds.
– Ends
