commonwealth games: CWG: Sharath-Sathiyan lose to familiar foes again, settle for silver

The experienced Indian pair of Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan were defeated by England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford in the men’s doubles final of the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.

The Indian pair had to settle for silver for the second consecutive edition after losing 11-8, 8-11, 3-11, 11-7, 4-11 to the England pair.

It was a repeat of the 2018 final in Gold Coast and much to the dismay of the Indians, it was the same result.

The Indian contingent is getting a lot of support from the crowd here, but the English fans outshone the Indians on the NEC table tennis ground on Sunday.

With little separation of the two pairs, the Indians got off to a good start as Sathiyan beat the forehand winner to take a 1-0 lead in the gold medal match.

Drinkhall and Pitchford made a comeback in the second game. A down the line backhand from Pitchford made it 5–1 for England. The Indians were having a tough time reclaiming serve with their opponents mixing things up.

Sharath’s comeback from the backhand was giving mixed results. The cross court winner of Pitchford gave England a 7-5 lead before leveling the tie after a long rally.

The English pair got away with the third game, having the best rally of the match, which the Indians won after trading a series of forehands too far off the table.

After improving in the fourth game, the Indians were able to reach the final.

However, Drinkhall and Pitchford took a huge six-point lead at 4-4 to collect six gold medal points in the fifth game. He converted the first one, drawing a huge roar from the crowd. The Indian pair shook hands with their opponents who once again proved better on the day.

With silver, 40-year-old Sharath increased his CWG medal tally to 11 with a mixed doubles gold medal match to be held later on Sunday. He is also in the running for the singles medal.

Originally published at Pen 18

Be angry, be frustrated, but move on: Janneke Schopman’s message to Savita & Co after semifinal loss

Be angry, disappointed, you have every right, but go ahead and settle down before the crucial bronze medal match.” -FINAL.

And his words of wisdom worked like magic as an injured India beat New Zealand 2-1 to win a CWG medal – a bronze – in a 1-1 shoot-out after a gap of 16 years. ,

The Indians were undone by Fox, a formidable stopwatch by technical officials in the shoot-out against Australia, who eventually lost 0-3 after a 1-1 stalemate after 60 minutes.

“We gave it all against Australia but how the shoot-out started it wasn’t great. But it is what it is and we have to accept it and move on,” Schopman said excitedly.

“After yesterday’s game, we had a team meeting and I said to the girls ‘Get angry, get frustrated, get all your anger out… But tomorrow is a new game and we need to settle down. We have to move on. We knew we could fight for any team and the girls showed great resilience.”

A wrong timekeeping move by a technical official in the shootout robbed India of India’s chances against Australia on Saturday. Rosie Malone thwarts Australia’s first attempt in a penalty shoot-out as India

Savita pulled out a brilliant block.

But Malone got a second chance after a timekeeping error by the officials and this time the striker scored to change the pace of the game.

“It’s not the umpire’s fault, they were really apologetic. I urge the FIH not to just look at the rules because there’s more to the rules than the rules,” Schopman said.

“There’s no point in filing a complaint. Have we been robbed? Maybe, but it doesn’t matter…”

The Dutch coach said that he always believed in the potential of his players, despite having a normal World Cup ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

“I knew we can play hockey and we have shown. India has a lot of talent, they have very good hands so why shouldn’t they have more balls than the opponent.

“The World Cup taught us a valuable lesson but the belief is always there. It takes time but we know we can compete against anyone,” Schopman said.

After going through some rough times taking over the reigns of the team, Schopman finally tasted success and apparently got emotional.

“I’m still emotional. It’s been a tough few weeks for me. Many of our matches in the World Cup were tight 50-50. So I wanted the girls to win and get a medal they deserve.”

India captain Savita, who went on to star in the win over New Zealand with her scintillating performance in the shoot-out, gave credit to Schopman.

“As a captain and a senior player, I would give all the credit for the medal to our coach Janneke. He inspired us and told us not to give up till the last minute,” she said.

Returning to the Games Village, the Indian women received a warm welcome from the men and Manpreet Singh and his teammates lined up from both sides to applaud their female counterparts.

Savita said, “It was special for us. It was a surprise. We didn’t know that they were waiting for us to welcome us. Now we want to have a gold from them.”

Originally published at Pen 18

sanket sargar: CWG silver medallist Sanket Sargar undergoes elbow surgery, Ministry sanctions Rs 30 lakh for treatment

Weightlifter Sanket Sargar, who opened the medal account for India at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, suffered an elbow injury on Sunday and the Sports Ministry approved Rs 30 lakh for the surgery. The 21-year-old injured his right elbow while attempting to lift 139kg in his second clean and jerk attempt on his way to his maiden Commonwealth Games silver medal in the 55kg category.

The ministry said, “He was given immediate medical aid and doctors in the UK advised him for surgery. The Indian government decided to bear the cost of the young athlete’s surgery and today approved the full cost of the operation at Rs 30 lakh, The ministry said. a release.

“The athlete is now stable and recovering in a UK hospital.”

Sanket managed a total of 248 kg (113 kg + 135 kg) to win the gold medal, just one kg behind Malaysia’s Mohamed Anik, who broke a Games record in clean and jerk.

Olympic silver medalist and Commonwealth Games gold-winning weightlifter Mirabai Chanu thanked the government and the weightlifting federation for the support extended to Sanket.

“I would like to thank Government @Media_SAI, TOPS for conducting elbow surgery for our silver medalist Sanket Sargar in London. He got injured during his competition at CWG. At the request of the Weightlifting Federation, the government immediately funded Released and received. She has undergone surgery,” Mirabai wrote in a tweet on Sunday.

Originally published at Pen 18

Pallikal-Ghosal bag mixed doubles bronze in squash at CWG

Indian mixed doubles pair of Saurav Ghoshal and Dipika Pallikal won a bronze medal in the squash event of the Commonwealth Games here on Sunday. In a repeat of the previous edition’s final, Ghosal and Pallikal barely broke a sweat as they registered an 11-8, 11-4 win over the Australian combination of Donna Lobban and Cameron Pillay in the bronze medal play-off.

The Indian pair, who won a silver medal in the mixed team event at the 2018 Gold Coast edition, lost to Joel King and Paul Cole in the semi-finals.

This is the second medal for Ghosal at the Games, having won India’s first medal in the men’s singles event earlier this week.

Originally published at Pen 18

nitu ghanghas: MC Mary Kom is my idol; my father supported me a lot: Commonwealth champion Nitu Ghanghas – The Economic Times Video

Indian boxer Neetu Ghanghas won the gold medal by defeating Demi-Jade Rezton of England in the women’s 48kg category final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Sunday. He won on the basis of points 5–0 over his English opponent. In an exclusive conversation with Times Network’s Karishma, Neetu Ghanghas said that she had worked hard to sleep and credited her father for being successful in the struggle. He said that MC Mary Kom is his idol.

Originally published at Pen 18

Commonwealth Games 2022: Annu Rani bags bronze medal in women’s javelin throw

Originally published at Pen 18

CWG 2022: Wrestlers Dahiya, Phogat, Naveen win gold as India surge up in the table

Birmingham: Olympic silver medalist Ravi Kumar Dahiya, star female wrestler Vinesh Phogat and 19-year-old wrestler Naveen claimed gold medals as Indian wrestlers gathered momentum on mighty wrestlers’ shoulders as athletes Avinash Sable and Priyanka Goswami broke new ground in 2022 . Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Fellow wrestlers Pooja Sihag and Pooja Gehlot won bronze medals in their respective weight categories, while in Lawn Bowls, the men’s fours, who emulated their women’s counterparts by reaching the final, were content with silver medals as they lost to Northern Ireland. Had gone. peak struggle.

In the absence of shooting and archery, the Indian medal race is on a slow but steady pace and some unexpected performances in table tennis and badminton saw the wrestlers win three more gold medals than they won on Friday. India is now fifth in the table behind Australia, England, Canada and New Zealand.

Boxer Jasmine lost in the semifinals and had to be content with a bronze medal in the women’s lightweight (over 57kg–60kg), as did Mohamed Hasamuddin in the men’s featherweight (over 54kg–57kg) by Ghana’s Joseph Comey. was defeated by 1-4. Points in the semi-finals. Three boxers, world champions Nikhat Zareen, Neetu and Amit Panghal, made it to the finals and will be hoping to add more gold to the Indian tally.

Five medals in wrestling, two in athletics, two in boxing and one medal in lawn ball raised India’s tally to 36 – 12 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze with many more sets to be added over the next two days.

The day belonged to wrestlers especially Ravi Dahiya, Vinesh and Naveen who won three gold medals on Saturday.

Three-time Asian champion and World Championship bronze medalist Dahiya defeated his Nigerian rival Welson Abikevenimo 10-0 in the men’s freestyle 57kg final. He started cautiously but came into his own after the referee warned him to be too defensive. He sealed the victory with eight points in the next two minutes.

Vinesh Phogat was also impressive in her win. The veteran wrestler completed a hat-trick of gold medal at the Commonwealth Games by defeating Sri Lanka’s Chamodya Keshani Maduravalge Don in the women’s 53kg final.

Earlier, Priyanka Goswami and Avinash Sable started the day for India with two unexpected silver medals. Priyanka became the first Indian woman race walker to win a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games when she finished second to her Australian rival in the women’s 10km walk.

Sable was even more formidable after beating the Kenyan hegemony in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, becoming the first non-Kenyan to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games since 1994. He finished the race between two Kenyans in 8:11.15.

Indian lawn bowlers continued to make history as the men’s fours added a silver to the historic gold medal won by the women’s fours a few days back. The quartet of Chandan Kumar Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Navneet Singh and Sunil Bahadur put up a good fight but lost 5-18 to Northern Ireland at the Royal Leamington Spa.

Originally published at Pen 18