Commonwealth Games 2018, Day 4: Shooters emulate weightlifters, badminton team reaches final

Saina Nehwal stars as India reaches Mixed Team event final 

London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal and world number two Kidambi Srikanth shone as India reached the final of mixed team event on Sunday in Gold Coast.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponappa opened India's account with a 22-20, 21-18 win over Yong Kai Terry and Jia Ying Crystal of Singapore at the Carrara Sports Arena.

Srikanth doubled India's lead with comfortable 21-17, 21-14 win over Kean in the men's singles rubber.

However, India suffered a setback when doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag Shetty lost the third rubber of the tie to Yong Kai Terry and Danny Bawa Chrisnanta.

Saina though made sure there was no further damage by decimating Jia 21-8, 21-15 in a 38-minute women's singles encounter, thereby securing an unassailable 3-1 lead.

India will face the winner of the second mixed team event semi-final between Malaysia and Scotland on Monday, April 9.

Women's table tennis team reaches final

Women's table tennis team assured India of a silver medal after beating England 3-0 in the semi-final of the 21st Commonwealth Games at the Oxenford Studios here on Sunday.

Veteran Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and the doubles duo of Mouma Das and Patkar made sure India blanked England.

India will now face Singapore in the gold medal match at 2pm IST on Sunday.

Manu Bhaker shoots Gold, Heena Sidhu Silver

Manu Bhaker, 16, and experienced campaigner Heena Sidhu won the Gold and Silver, respectively in the women's 10m Air Pistol event at Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast on Sunday.

A lot is expected of the Indian shooting contingent at the ongoing 21st edition of the multi-sport event. With dominant performances at the Belmont Shooting Center, Bhaker and Sidhu lived up to the reputation, clinching a 1-2 podium finish.

Bhaker set a new Commonwealth Games record with a total of 240.9 points in the final. Notably, she headed into the tournament after having won the women's 10m Air Pistol gold medal at ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara in March.

Sidhu, the gold medalist from the 2010 edition of Commonwealth Games, finished with a total of 234 points ahead of local favorite and Australia's Elena Galiabovitch, who managed 214.9 points.

Meanwhile, shooters Deepak Kumar and Ravi Kumar have also entered the final of men's 10m Air Rifle event. The former set a Games record by shooting a total of 627.2 in the qualification round.

More medals from Indian weightlifters

Earlier in the day, Punam Yadav won gold in the women's 69kg category. She lifted a total of 222kg which included 100kg in snatch and 122kg in clean and jerk.

This the fifth gold medal for India at this year's CWG. Mirabai Chanu, Sanjita Chanu, Sathish Sivalingam and Venkat Rahul Ragala had earlier emerged champions in their respective categories.

England's Sarah Davies took silver with 217 kg, while Apolonia Vaivai of Fiji lifted 216 kg for the bronze.

Yadav did not look convincing at the start of the clean and jerk phase. She struggled to lift 118 kg in her first attempt which gave her the lead. But failing at 122 kg in her second attempt put her in a spot of bother.

However, she recovered to lift 122 kg in her third attempt and Vavai's failure at that same weight put the Indian in the leading position for the gold.

Mary Kom enters semi-final

Five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom reached the semi-final of the women's 48kg boxing with a win over Megan Gordon of Scotland on Sunday.

Mary dominated her 18-year-old opponent throughout the one-sided quarter-final to claim a unanimous 5-0 verdict at the Oxenford Boxing studios.

(With inputs from IANS)