CWG India: Judoka Tulikka wins silver, lifter Lovepreet gets bronze, men's and women's hockey teams record contrasting wins

New Delhi, August 3, 2022

Judoka Tulikka Maan had to be content with a silver as she lost the 78+ kg final bout to Scotland's Sarah Adlington, while Indian men's and women's hockey teams chalked out contrasting victories over Canada on Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Wednesday.

The day also saw weightlifter Lovepreet Singh winning a bronze medal in 100kg as pugilists Md Hussamuddin, Nitu Ganghas and Nikhat Zareen moved into the semi-finals in their respective categories.

Maan fought bravely but Adlington turned out to be far superior. The Scot attacked from the start and the Indian had a tough time defending herself and in the end she gave up and settled for a silver.

Earlier with a nine-medal haul so far, India matched their medals tally in weightlifting of the previous Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG).

Lovepreet had a total lift of 355kgs including 163kgs in snatch and 192kgs in clean and jerk. Junior Nyabeyeu of Cameroon won gold with a total of 361kg while Samoan Jack Opeloge won silver with an effort of 358kgs.

Purnima Pandey in the women’s 87+kg, though, finished sixth with a total heave of 228kgs. The gold went at 286kgs, a Commonwealth Games record, to England’s Emily Campbell.

In boxing, in the 54kg-57kg Featherweight category, Md. Hussamuddin beat Namibian Tryagain Morning Ndevelo 4-1 on points to make it to the semi-finals and assured himself a medal.

Also, medal confirming performances came from Nitu Ganghas and Nikhat Zareen. In women’s 45kg-48kg, Nitu made it to the semis when Northern Ireland’s Nicole Clyde abandoned the fight in the final round after Nitu had easily won the first two rounds.

Nikhat was easy winner in the 48 kg-50kg category as she overwhelmed Wales's Helen Jones.

In men's judo, Deepak Deswal in the men’s 100kg category was, however, on the other side of the spectrum, suffering two Ippons to bow out of the contest. Harry Lowell-Hewitt of England got the better of him first in the quarters, before Fijian Tevita Takayawa effected a throw down on him in the repechage round. This was after he had won his Round of 16 battle against Cameroon’s Eric Fouda.

There was good news from the Lawn Bowls greens as Mridul Borgohain garnered two victories in Round 2 and Round 3 of the Sectional games in the men’s singles. He first beat Chris Locke of the Falkland Islands 21-5 and then Iain McLean of Scotland 21-19 in a nail-biter.

In the Women’s Pairs, Lovely Choubey and Nayanmoni Saikia, fresh from their gold in the Women’s Fours, began the day with a comfortable 23-6 win over Hina Rereiti and Olivia Buckingham of Niue, but were held 16-16 by South Africa in their next game.

India was also back to winning ways in women’s hockey after a reverse against England earlier and edged out Canada 3-2 in a hard-fought Pool A encounter. Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur and Salima Tete were on target for India while Hannah Haughn and Brienne Stairs scored for Canada.

The men also consolidated their position at the top of Pool B with a 8-0 rout of Canada. The Indians scored in every quarter of the game with Gurjant, Mandeep, Lalit and Amit scoring for India along with braces from forward Akashdeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh.

In squash, Sunayna Kuruvila won her Plate final against Guyana’s Mary Fung-a-Fat 11-7, 13-11, 11-2, in straight games. She finished fifth in the tournament.

In Para Table Tennis, India’s Raj Aravindan Alagar won 3-2, over George Wyndham of Sierra Leone. Raj won the Group 2 game 9-11, 11-8, 11-0, 10-12 and 11-3 in the men’s singles classes 3-5 category.

Sonalben Patel in the women’s singles classes also notched up victory beating England’s Sue Bailey 11-7, 11-5, 6-11 and 11-7 for a 3-1 verdict in her favour. Baby Sahan Ravi in the women’s singles classes 6-10 had a relatively easier outing in her first group match, winning 11-9, 11-8, 11-6 against Nigeria’s Faith Obazuaye.

NNN