Commonwealth Games: Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Achinta Sheuli strike gold in weightlifting; Nikhat Zareen into quarter-finals-Sports News , Firstpost

Mizoram teenager Jeremy Lalrinnunga won India’s second gold medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Sunday, and that was followed by another gold by fellow weightlifter Achinta Sheuli towards the end of the day. Both created new Games’ records. While Jeremy lifted an aggregate of 300 in the men’s 67kg competition final, Achinta lifted a record total of 313kg to claim the gold in the men’s 73kg category final.

That took India’ s gold medal tally to three this CWG, with Mirabai Chanu having won one earlier, in the women’s 49 kg category.

In other sports, Harmanpreet Kaur’s India thumped  Pakistan by eight wickets in a rain-interrupted women’s T20 at Edgbaston, to go top of the group, which also has Barbados and Australia.

With the gold, Jeremy won the country its fifth medal at CWG 2022 and second gold medal at the event. He had achieved a record-breaking 140 kg lift in the snatch category and 160 kg in the Clean and Jerk category, which combined to give him a lift of 300 kg, a record at the Commonwealth Games.

Lalrinnunga successfully lifted 136 kg in his first Snatch attempt to move to the top of the leaderboard. Edidiong Joseph Umoafia was at second with 130 kg and Samoa’s Vaipava Ioane at third with 127 kg at the time of his first attempt.

Lalrinnunga set up a new Commonwealth Games record by lifting 140 kg in his second Snatch attempt.

He tried to better this record by going for 143 kg in his final attempt but failed to do so. He finished the Snatch category with 140 kg, at the top of the table. Edidiong Joseph Umoafia was at second with 130 kg and Samoa’s Vaipava Ioane at third with 127 kg at the end of the Snatch event.

Mewanwhile, favourite to win the event, debutant Sheuli heaved 313kg (143kg+170kg) to grab the gold.

Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who gave Sheuli a tough competition, ended as the second best lifter in the event. He had a best effort of 303kg (138kg+165kg).

Canada’s Shad Darsigny was third with a total lift of 298kg (135kg+163kg).

Sheuli, a junior world championship silver medallist, executed three clean lifts — 137kg, 140kg and 143kg — in the snatch section.

His 143kg effort helped him smash the Games record and improve his personal best.

Heading into clean an jerk with a five kilogram advantage, the Kolkata lifter started with a 166kg lift, which he hoisted easily.

Sheuli then faltered his 170kg attempt only to heave the weight in the third attempt and create a new Games record in total lift (313kg).

The Indian lifter had to wait patiently towards the end to find out what medal he’d take home as the Malaysian attempted a 176kg lift in his last two attempts only to fail.

India thump Pakistan the women’s T20 cricket competition

India women outplayed Pakistan by eight wickets in a shortened T20 game due to rain. The match was shortened to 18 overs due to rain at Edgbaston, but Pakistan having opted to bat first, were bundled out for just 99, with Muneeba Ali top-scoring with 32.

In reply, Smriti Mandhana did light work of the chase, amassing 63 runs off just 42 balls to take India over the finish line with more than six overs to spare.

With the win, India climbed to top spot with two points, followed by Barbados in second and Australia in third (Both with two points). Pakistan remain last with no points, having also been defeated in their opener against Barbados.

Indian badminton side reaches mixed team event semi-finals

The Indian badminton team reached the semi-finals of the mixed team event at CWG 2022 in Birmingham, with a 3-0 win over South Africa.

The pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy defeated Jarred Elliot and Deidre Jordan 21-9, 21-11 to give India a 1-0 lead.

That was followed by Lakshya Sen outplaying Caden Kakora in two dominant games, with the score reading 21-5, 21-6 in favour of the Indian. India were 2-0 up and it was upto Aakarshi Kashyap to finish the deal. Kashyap prevailed 21-11, 21-16 to beat Johanita Scholtz to give India a 3-0 victory.

India will now play Singapore, who will be led by ninth ranked Loh Kean Yew and would pose a challenge to the Indians.

Ghosal, Joshna enter singles quarterfinals at CWG

Leading India squash player Saurav Ghosal on Sunday joined Joshna Chinappa in the singles quarterfinals.
The world number 15 from India blanked Canadian David Baillargeon, ranked 62, 3-0 to reach the last eight stage. The final scoreline read 11-6, 11-2, 11-6.
Ghosal was hardly troubled in the first two games. In the third, the Canadian led 3-0 before the Indian levelled it to 3-3. After that, he took the decisive lead.
India is eyeing its first squash medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Stihari Nataraj in men’s 50m backstroke finals

Continuing his impressive run, ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj advanced to the finals of the men’s 50m backstroke event.

The 21-year-old clocked 25.38 to emerge the eighth fastest swimmer across semifinals to make his second final of the Birmingham Games.

The seasoned Sajan Prakash, on the other hand, finished a disappointing ninth the men’s 200m butterfly, his pet event.

Nataraj had clocked 25.52 seconds in heats, making the 50m backstroke semifinals.

The Bengaluru swimmer had finished seventh in the men’s 100m backstroke final on Saturday night.

In the men’s 200m butterfly, Prakash finished fourth in his heat after clocking 1:58:99s and was put on the reserve list as he was the ninth fastest swimmer overall. The top eight move to the final.

Nikhat Zareen into quarter-finals, Shiva Thapa, Sumit bow out

World champion Nikhat Zareen sailed into the women’s 50kg quarterfinals but it was curtains for Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) and Sumit Kundu (75kg)as they made round of 16 exits in their respective weight categories.

While Zareen knocked out Helena Ismael Bagao of Mozambique to storm into the last eight round of the women’s lightweight category winning by RSC (Referee stopping contest), Thapa lost 1-4 to world championship bronze medallist Reese Lynch of Scotland to make a disappointing exit from the Games.

Sumit went down to Australia’s Callum Peters by a 0-5 unanimous verdict in the middleweight pre-quarter-finals.

In lawn bowls, Indian women’s fours team qualified for the semifinals of the competition after defeating Norfolk Island.

The Indian quartet of Lovely Choubey (lead), Pinki (second), Nayanmoni Saikia (third) and Rupa Rani Tirkey (skip) won 17-9 in the quarterfinal match. The four will play against New Zealand in the semifinal on Monday.

Elsewhere, Mayuri Lute finished way back in the 18th position in the women’s 500m time trial final as Indian cyclists continued to struggle. Lute clocked 36.868s to end near the bottom of the 20-cyclist final.

Another Indian, Vishavjeet Singh did not finish his men’s 15km scratch race final. Earlier in the day, top Indian cyclist Ronaldo Laitonjam lost to Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s sprint event.

The 20-year-old Indian finished 0.162s behind Glaetzer, clocking 10.011s over the 200m distance. Laitonjam had earlier finished 13th in the qualifying round after clocking 10.012 at the Lee Valley Velo Park here.

His teammates David Beckham (10.120) and Esow Alben (10.361) finished 18th and 23rd in the qualifying round. Laitonjam had clinched a silver medal in the sprint event of the senior category at the Asian Track Championship in New Delhi in June.

In gymnastics, Indian gymnasts Yogeshwar Singh and Ruthuja Nataraj signed off at 15th and 17th spots in the men’s and women’s all-around finals of the artistic gymnastic event respectively.

While Haryana’s Yogeshwar, who had participated in three World Championships, finished with an overall score of 74.700, the 19-year-old Ruthuja scored 43.000 to end on the last spot.

Yogeshwar was the lone Indian male gymnast to qualify for the all-around final after his teammates Saif Tamboli and Satyajit Mondal narrowly missed out.

In women’s all-round final, Ruthuja had scores of 12.950, 10.000, 10.250 and 9.800 in vault, uneven bar, balance beam and floor respectively.

In triathlon, India finished 10th in the triathlon mixed team relay final. The Indian quartet of Adarsh Muralidharan Nair Sinimol, Pragnya Mohan, Vishwanath Yadav and Sanjana Sunil Joshi clocked a total time of 1:31:43 in the three-event competition.

With inputs from agencies