Indian women shine at Commonwealth Games 2018

It is truly women shining at the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia. So far, 10 women have won medals for the country.

Indian shooters Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela bagged silver and bronze respectively in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event on Monday. Ghosh lost to the eventual champion Martina Lindsay of Singapore in the shoot-off after both were tied at a CWG record score of 247.2 in the final.

In the shoot-off, Ghosh scored 9.9 while Martina shot 10.3. Apurvi, the defending champion. got the bronze with 225.3.

Earlier, Apurvi had set a new CWG record of 423.2 to clinch the top spot in the qualifying stage. She beat her own previous CWG record of 415.6 which was set at the 2014 edition in Glasgow, Scotland. Ghosh registered 413.7 to finish fifth in the qualification stage.

On Sunday, Manika Batra won for India a historic gold medal with her stunning singles 3-1 victory over four-time gold medalists Singapore in the final of the women’s team event at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

World No. 58 Batra first scored the biggest of her career by humbling world number four and multiple Olympic medallist Feng Tianwei 3-2 before brushing aside 100th-ranked Yihan Zhou 3-0 to engineer a sensational win over the mighty Singapore side.

The doubles pair of Mouma Das and Madhurika Patkar restored the lead defeating Yihan Zhou and Mengyu Yu 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7 as India tightened their grip on the match.

Then weightlifters took charge. Punam Yadav lifted a total of 222 kg which included 100 kg in snatch and 122 kg in clean and jerk. The 22-year-old Punam from Vanarasi joined fellow weightlifters Mirabai Chanu and Sanjita Chanu in clinching gold medals.

Sanjita won the gold in the women's 53-kilogram category on Friday. The Manipuri star lifted a total of 192 kg, which included a CWG record of 84 kg in the snatch and 108 kg in clean and jerk. Mirabai was the first gold medal winner for India at the Games in the 48-kg category.

India's Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu won the gold and silver medals in the women's 10m Air Pistol event respectively on Sunday. Haryana's 16-year-old Bhaker produced a spectacular performance, setting a new CWG record with a total of 240.9 points in the final round.

Bhaker was in fine form in her maiden CWG appearance, having won 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed event gold medals at the ISSF World Cup earlier this year in Mexico.

Experienced Sidhu registered 234 points to make it 1-2 for India at the top of the podium. It was her first medal at the CWG. She had made her CWG debut in 2010 New Delhi edition.

Only nine men have won medals so far in this edition of the Commonwealth Games.