On the 8th day of the CWG, India have bagged into their a lone gold medal what should be otherwise a disappointing day but for one really special effort. After Milkha Singh ran 440 yards to win the gold medal in 1958 Cardiff Games in Wales, this medal is only the second gold in the discipline of Athletics. Krishna Poonia threw all her weight behind this one as she crossed 61.51m with her discus throw winning the most sought after medal – a glistening gold!
She achieved this feat in an outstanding show by India in the women’s discus throw event alongside fellow athletes Seema Antil and Harwat Kaur who won the bronze and silver respectively. Harwant Kaur won her silver medal with a throw of 60.61m, whereas National record holder Seema Antil won the bronze with a throw of 58.46m.
This feat becomes all the more incredulous as all three athletes on the podium were Indian which is not just incredible but rare. More so considering discus is an athletics event.
However this medal is not something to be surprised of. The Federation has been beaming with pride over this trio and had claimed medals prior to the games. But all three medals is something to rejoice!
Other than that silver lining the rest of the day was full of disappointments for India. Especially the Indian pugilists disappointed as Jai Bhagwan, Amandeep Singh and Dilbagh Singh failed to cross the semi final barrier in their respective categories. This mean that all three of them had to be content with a bronze.
This is a huge disappointment as all three of these boxers were promising and anything less than a gold would be a waste. England’s chances of catching up on India will exponentially increase due to this setback. Earlier, boxer Akhil Kumar had also failed to make it past the quarter finals in a horrible performance against Bruno Julie. He lost 5-7 as the opponent exploited his “open guarded” boxing style.
Amandeep and Dilbagh were boxed out in contrasting fashions by Northen Ireland Boxers. Whereas, Amandeep was boxed out totally in a scoreline that seemed humiliating, 0-5; Dilbagh’s match was a much more keenly contested one however with the same outcome. Dilbagh lost 5-4.
But the biggest upset of the day was Vijender Singh‘s defeat to English boxer Ogogo 4-3. This defeat was controversial as all 4 points of the English boxer were awarded to him by the Canadian referee Summers.
The only two boxers who are now in the finals and will compete for gold are Suranjoy Singh and Manoj Kumar. Considering that they are India’s lone medal hopes now the pressure will be even more on them.
Meanwhile, India played their first Rugby match of the preliminary rounds. Without much success.
Indian Badminton continues to do well as Saina seems all set to take gold in the individuals event. She steamrolled her opponent from Wales. Chetan Anand too won her match againstthe Nigerian shuttler without much effort to progress.
India will be hoping for the best in the next couple of days. Jai Ho!