Colombia, focused throughout the Wednesday's match on circling Qatar's goal, scored their winner five minutes before the end, when James delivered a brilliant floating cross to Zapata's head and the Atalanta striker from Bergamo netted the sole goal of the game, reports Efe news.

The South American squad pressed from the start and dominated the first half of the match against Qatar, on the second match day of Group B, but the Asian Champion managed to go into the break with a blank scoreboard.

Roger Martinez had a goal ruled out for offside after just five minutes of play and Rodriguez sent an unpressured header wide just eight minutes later.

The score 0-0 of the first half gradually calmed the "yellow" euphoria of the Colombian fans, who were loudly cheering their team from the stands and gave way to the shouts of the small number of Qatar supporters present, who were joined by a few Brazilians. Colombia jacked up the intensity for the second half with more pressure and speed.

At the beginning of the second half, in the 48th minute, a shot by Martinez hit the arm of Qatari defender Abdelkarim Hassan. The referee initially sanctioned as a penalty and yellow for Hassan, but after consulting the VAR, he annulled the previous decision.

Colombia's coach Carlos Queiroz, who had already replaced Medina with Atletico Madrid's Santiago Arias, sent his most experienced players Radamel Falcao Garcia and Luis Diaz on the field to add pressure in the attack, but Qatar still resisted the Colombian onslaught.

Colombia kept looking to score after the goal and Mateus Uribe and Zapata again had chances in front of Saad Alsheeb's net. Colombia proved their greater experience with 69 per cent of ball possession against Qatar's 39 per cent. They also had five shots on target and 13 corners against two and one, respectively, for the Asians.

The win leaves Colombia at the top of Group B with six points, after their 2-0 win over Argentina in their first match on Saturday.

Qatar, meanwhile, have one point after a 2-2 draw against Paraguay in their Copa America debut in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

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New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met and congratulated the medal winners at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Modi also complimented those who could not win medals but had performed creditably.

"Accomplishments in the sporting arena inspire everyone. Their sporting feats have raised India's stature. Whenever an Indian sportsperson wins on the global sporting stage, it is the Indian flag that rises," Modi said at the event held at his residence.

India finished third with 66 medals (26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze).

The Prime Minister said the life of a sportsperson can span several decades. He cited the example of Mary Kom, who is winning gold medals even as a MP. He mentioned Pullela Gopichand, who is mentoring many badminton players after an immensely successful career as a player.

Modi said that besides talent, training, concentration and hard work, mental toughness was also important for sportspersons. In this context, he mentioned the benefits of yoga.

Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Rathore was present at the event.

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They both added that they will work for other gold medals in the 2020 Olympic games.

"We would have loved to spend several days with our parents, friends and well wishers. But our coaches told us to come back soon. We are leaving Imphal on Sunday," Mirabai said at the Imphal international airport soon after arrival from New Delhi.

A large crowd had gathered at the airport since morning to accord a rousing welcome to these girl weightlifters who had done India proud. This is the first visit to their home state after winning gold medals at the Gold Coast CWG.

Sanjita, who had won a gold medal in weightlifting in 2014 said that she was overjoyed by the enthusiastic reception accorded to them at the international airport.

Later they were taken to Khuman Lampak Sports complex where some sports lovers and the Manipur government youth and sports department felicitated them.

Traffic was held up at several places to allow their cavalcade to pass. Mirabai said that she attained the present status as a result of the training given by the coaches and other teachers.

The director of the youth and sports department, N. Parveen, said that efforts are being made to provide the proper infrastructure to promising sportspersons.

"The government came to know of their performances only when they won international medals. They have been undergoing training although there is no modern infrastructure. Sanjita said that the promising sportspersons should work very hard and one day they will win medals in the international events," he said.

Mirabai said that if the sportspersons work sincerely they could win laurels at home and abroad.

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By Gaurav Sharma

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) India's basketball player Amjyot Gill says lack of team was responsible for the disappointing performance at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

India played three match in the preliminary round and lost all of them.

"Our team chemistry was poor at that time because I came from United States, Amritpal was also playing somewhere else so we got no time to practice together and then suddenly Amrit got injured so we lacked chemistry at that time," Amrit told IANS at the launch of the 3x3 Pro Basketball League in Mumbai.

"I am not satisfied with the performance. If we have practiced together we could have done something better," he added.

Despite the poor performance of the team, The 26-year-old power forward scored 59 points but lack of support from experienced players like centre Satnam Singh and others costed hugely. While Amritpal missed all the three matches due to injury, Satnam only managed to gather 31 points in all the matches.

When asked about the performance of Satnam, who became the first player from the country to be drafted into the NBA, Amrit said: "Satnam is a very good player but sometimes players click sometimes don't but he tried his 100 percent on the court."

On Wednesday, the first ever FIBA recognised league in the shorter form of the game in India, the 3x3 Pro Basketball League (3BL), was launched. The league will witness 12 teams with foreign players like Bikramjeet Gill, Inderbir Singh Gill and Leandro Lima, among others.

The 10-minute high speed format, which became an Olympic sport last year, will be also introduced in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

When asked about the importance of this three-a-side league, Amjyot said: This format can help a lot because in this format the individual skills get developed and its purely a team game so it can help a lot. This is a good opportunity for young players to showcase their skills and talent."

Amjyot asserted that players will not suffer any adverse affect on their technique while switching from the shorter to the regular format.

"No, I think the individual skills will develop and it (3x3 format)will help a lot in the regular format. It will also be easy for the players to play the 5x5 format as this (3x3) is very fast paced as compared to the regular format. So if you play 3x3 it will get you results in regular format (5x5)," the Chandigarh-born player said.

Amjyot also stressed on the need to improve the system at the grassroots level in order to develop the sport in the country.

"There has to be a proper system and it should start from the school level like in foreign countries. I think right now India lacked a proper system in grassroot level," he said.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)

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Malhotra's letter to Rathore has come a week after National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President Raninder Singh demanded a boycott of the 2022 Games.

In his letter, Malhotra wrote: "Archery won maximum number of medals in the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, the discipline was dropped from 2014 onwards. Now that India is winning maximum number of medals in shooting, the discipline has been dropped from 2022 onwards."

"Now that India is emerging as a power house in badminton, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting, it will not be a matter of surprise if any one of these disciplines is dropped from 2026 onwards," Malhotra added.

Malhotra also mentioned that there is a systematic approach to deprive India of medals.

"First various events from shooting disciplines were dropped and now shooting has been dropped altogether. If archery was retained in 2014 and 2018, India's medal tally would have gone up," he said.

The veteran BJP leader also hoped that India emerging as one of the biggest economies and representing half of the 2.10 billion combined population of Commonwealth countries, would be able to exert diplomatic pressure on the Commonwealth Games Federation to protect the interest of the country.

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New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Praising his fellow boxers for their performance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games, star pugilist and gold medal winner Vikas Krishan Yadav asserted that the Indian squad will improve their medal haul at the Asian Games later this year.

India picked up nine boxing medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, earlier this month. All the eight Indian boxers in the men's categories finished on the podium while five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom won gold in the women's 48 kg division.

Vikas was confident that Indian boxers will put up a much better show at this year's Asian Games than the 2014 edition, although he admitted that the standard will be much tougher than the Commonwealth Games.

"There is no comparison between the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. The Asiad is like a mini Olympics. Countries like Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Mongolia, China and former Soviet nations like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are among the stronger nations in world boxing. The Asian Games is going to be much tougher. We will not get such easy competition like the Commonwealth Games," Vikas told IANS.

"But still we should improve our medal haul at the Asian Games, including at least one gold. Last time we got just two medals when Satish and I got bronzes in our respective categories. This time we should get four to five medals," he added.

However, the 26-year-old felt that with all eight Indian boxers among the men reaching the semi-finals of their respective categories, the number of gold medals should have been higher.

Gaurav Solanki, who emerged champion in the flyweight (52kg) division, was the only Indian apart from Vikas to win gold among the men.

"Overall performance was good, but we could have won more gold medals. Manish (Kaushik), Amit (Phangal) and Satish (Kumar) all lost by very small margins in their respective finals. All these finals were extremely close and could have gone either way," the Haryana pugilist said.

"The final bouts that our boxers won, like me and Gaurav Solanki, were by 5:0 margins. But the finals that we lost were by scores like 3:2. So the fact that five of our boxers did so well after reaching their respective finals reveals volumes of our high standards," he added.

Vikas, who won gold in the middleweight (75kg) category in Gold Coast, asserted that he did not face too much of a challenge on his way to the maiden Commonwealth Games title of his career.

"It was not tough for me at all. Everybody was saying that I had a very tough draw, but I did not face too much of a challenge. I had a bit of a trouble in the quarter-finals, but after that I beat three Olympians from the 2016 Rio Games one after the other," the Indian Army boxer said.

"Fighting three Olympians in consecutive bouts is not an easy task. But I registered one-sided victories in each of those bouts," he added.

(Ajeyo Basu can be contacted at ajeyo.b@ians.in)

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Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij made the announcement here on Friday. "We will hire foreign coaches to train our sportspersons to perform better at the international level," he said.

Vij said Haryana was the first state to give maximum cash prize and government jobs to sportspersons. He said the medal winning sportspersons at national and international meets would get jobs under the new sports policy.

"A gold medallist in Commonwealth Games would be given cash prize of Rs 1.50 crore and Group-A post, a silver medallist would be given Rs 75 lakh and Group-B post and a bronze medallist would get Rs 50 lakh and Group-C post," Vij said.

Players from Haryana, many of them women, bagged 22 medals in the just ended Commonwealth Games in Australia -- of 66 medals won by Indian players. These included 9 Gold, 6 Silver and 7 Bronze medals.

Haryana contributed 38 competitors to the Indian contingent in Australia.

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New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) Satisfied with the silver-medal effort in women's 50 metre rifle 3 positions in her maiden Commonwealth Games (CWG), rising shooter Anjum Moudgil said she has learnt a lesson from the setback in the 50m rifle prone event where she was let down by malfunctioning equipment.

The 24-year-old claimed that her rifle broke down midway through the event, but Moudgil said she did not lose her focus despite finishing a disappointing 16 in 50m rifle prone.

"I faltered in one event, there was some problem with my rifle. Some part of it was loose which I realised midway. It was my mistake too but couldn't help as it happened midway. I had a terrible day," Moudgil told IANS here.

"Everything happens for good, this is a good lesson for me personally. Next time before every match I will make sure everything is in place and not let the opportunities slip out of my hands," she added.

The Chandigarh shooter, however, showed great resilience while making fine recovery in the 50m rifle 3 positions event, where she topped the qualification stage by shattering the CWG qualifying record by a significant margin.

Moudgil, who entered the Games on the back of a silver-winning performance at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico last month, scored 589 (196 in kneeling, 199 in prone and 194 in standing) to ensure she finished at the top in the qualifying stage.

"I managed to keep the focus the next day. I shot really well in the qualification, which was also my personal best score and also the Games record. Winning a medal in that event was really good as I had to overcome the setback from the other event," she said.

"I was very focussed and I just had to keep myself calm. I was with myself before and during the match. I prepared really well for the competitions, and I knew that it was not my mistake it was just the technical glitch in the rifle," she added.

When asked how difficult it is to maintain the same amount of dedication and focus in two different events, Moudgil candidly said: "It's not that difficult. I actually like participating in more than one event."

"If it's just one event, it gets boring for me. I like playing all the events and hope to get selected in all my three shooting events. That keeps me going," she quipped.

Speaking of her goals in the season ahead, she said: "I am going to (South) Korea next for the air rifle and rifle 3 positions World Cup for which I am really prepared and then the World Championships. I am really keeping an eye on that and the Asian Games."

"All these World Cups and the Commonwealth Games were a nice experience for the major events coming up this season," she concluded.

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

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Kolkata, April 20 (IANS) Table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will both be high on confidence after registering morale-boosting victories in their respective previous games, when they clash in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.

While KKR got the better of Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in Jaipur, Punjab rode Chris Gayle's blazing hundred to stymie Sunrisers Hyderabad's three-game unbeaten streak and coast to a 15-run victory at home.

KKR had Nitish Rana -- who fired with bat and ball once again -- and their wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla to thank for the second triumph in a row.

Rana took two crucial wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short when both were looking good for a big score. With the bat, KKR's most consistent player so far remained unbeaten on 35 to see them cross the line with ease.

Needless to say, Rana's form augurs well for Dinesh Karthik's men who also have Robin Uthappa among runs along with the captain himself.

Rana, who bagged the Man-of-the-Match award for the second game in a row, now has 162 runs in five matches at 40.50, and four wickets.

Backing up their batsmen, Kuldeep and Piyush kept it really tight the other day after they were handed the new ball. The pair returned combined figures of 2/41 in eight overs which is excellent in T20 cricket.

KKR's worry would be the form of dashing Australian opener Chris Lynn who lasted just two balls against Rajasthan and departed cheaply without troubling the scorers.

Lynn has struggled against spin and was seen playing with a horizontal bat in only the second ball of his innings to K. Gowtham who castled him.

The likes of Punjab captain R. Ashwin and 17-year old Afghanistan offie Mujeeb Ur Rahman would be licking their lips when they bowl to him and it remains to be see how the Queenslander tackles them.

The other opener, Sunil Narine, has come good with his brisk cameos, but has shown susceptibility to shot-pitched deliveries, something Punjab would be aware of.

Coming to Gayle, the burly West Indian smoked 11 sixes en route his unbeaten 63-ball 104 to help his side post a challenging 193/3.

Hyderabad were never in the chase and lost comprehensively in the end. This was Gayle's second consecutive match-winning innings after his 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings.

Gayle's innings was typical of him but in the manner in which he saw off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's first spell and later unleashed a brutal assault on Rashid Khan's legspin, underlined the reservoir of experience that came into play during the knock.

Besides Gayle, Punjab bat deep with the likes of big-hitting Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and ageing Yuvraj Singh in their ranks. Their bowling lacks experience, especially in the pace department. Mohit Sharma went for a lot of runs against Hyderabad and will have to get his act together against KKR.

Having played one match less than KKR, Punjab have so far just lost once in four outings and are placed third. The two teams have met 21 times before and KKR have a superior 14-7 head to head record.

Teams (from)

KKR: Dinesh Karthik (c and WK), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, R Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi and Tom Curran.

KXIP: R Ashwin (Captain), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul (WK), Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.

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Kampala, April 20 (IANS) Three more Ugandan athletes have disappeared in Australia after the conclusion of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Charles Bakkabulindi, minister of state for sports said on Thursday that the three did not board the plane to return home, Xinhua reported.

The three who disappeared include Regan Ssimbwa, Nasir Bashir and table tennis female player Halima Nambozo.

This brings the number to five Ugandans who disappeared during this sports event. Last week two weightlifters Irene Kasubo and Kalidi Batuusa disappeared.

Bakkabulindi said that this behaviour may make it difficult for countries to give Ugandan athletes visas to attend international sports events.

"We are also going to screen players more, so that we are sure athletes will not disappear when they travel to represent the country. We must become tough with this matter," the minister said.

Robert Jjagwe, Chairman of the Uganda Table Tennis Association said it is sad that one of their gifted female players had chosen to vanish.

Besides Uganda, athletes from Rwanda, Cameroon and Sierra Leone are reported to have vanished during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Authorities in Australia said they will only start looking for the athletes who disappeared during the Games when their visas expire on May 15.

Uganda finished in 15th place after sending a team of 69 athletes and competed in 11 disciplines.

Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei won two gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m, while Stella Chesang bagged the women's 10,000m gold medal and Mercyline Chelangat bagged a bronze in the same race.

Boxer Juma Miiro picked a bronze medal in the 46-49kg weight category.

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By Tridib Baparnash

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) Till recently an emerging table-tennis star, Manika Batra has turned into an overnight sensation after her impressive run in the just-concluded Commonwealth Games, where she bagged medals in all four events on offer, including an unprecedented gold in the women's singles and team championship.

Despite earning accolades for her recent feats in Gold Coast, Manika still feels she has room for improvement, especially on her fitness.

"Well I would need to work more on my fitness as the sport is very fast and it is required to beat the top players. I need to be little more fitter and need to be faster than what I am right now," Manika told IANS in an interview on return from the Gold Coast, said, echoing her coach Sandeep Gupta, who had stressed on the importance of adding the 'X-factor' to her game.

The 22-year-old upset triple Olympic medallist and World No.4 Feng Tianwei of Singapore to lead the Indian women's team to a historic gold before beating Singapore's second highest ranked Mengyu Yu in the women's singles semi-finals, on her way to another gold.

When asked about her mindset before taking on higher-ranked opponents, Manika said she doesn't focus too much on her rivals' rankings.

"I do not think much about the opponent's ranking when I face them as I believe I have my techniques in right place. But having said that I am really happy and satisfied to have beaten her (Feng) twice," she said.

"I had to change my game in both the matches and made little adjustments which helped me beat her. I knew I could win and stayed focused and stuck to my strategy," the world No.48 added.

Manika also hoped that with her recent feat, she can replicate the success of the likes of shuttle queens Saina Nehwal and P.V.Sindhu in popularising table tennis in the country.

She said that because of many good players in the country, TT can become as popular as badminton in the country, she said.

"It is a wonderful feeling to have won so many medals in such a huge event and to have made the country proud. I was confident about my chances but never thought that I would win so many medals so, yeah, I am very happy about my achievements, she said adding that it was "surreal feeling and I hope to continue my good work."

Asked about her future goals, Manika said: "I am going for the World Team Championships in Sweden from April 29. My goal obviously will be do well and keep winning medals for the country."

Manika also credited the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) tournament for the exposure and for helping her shape her career.

"The league obviously has helped a lot, especially the Indian players. We got the chance to play and train with the higher-ranked players which has helped us to learn a thing or two," she said.

"Personally speaking, I had played and beaten higher ranked players last year which obviously gave me a lot of confidence. I am happy that it is happening again and I am really looking forward to it," she added.

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

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By Tridib Baparnash

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) After clinching her maiden Commonwealth Games medal, five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom says she took the Gold Coast Games as a challenge and has urged other athletes to "flush out" the age factor.

Mary, 35, clinched the gold in Light Flyweight (48kg) category in Gold Coast, defeating Kristina O'Hara of Northern Ireland in the final.

"I never spoke about retirement, these are all rumours. My focus is now solely on that elusive Olympic gold. Whether I win or not is a separate thing but I am working hard to achieve that goal," Mary told IANS putting a lid on all talks of her retirement, reiterating that she will continue boxing till her body allows her.

"Age has never been a factor for me, lets flush this 'age factor' out of our minds. I will continue boxing till my body allows me," she said.

Kom conceded she had a busy schedule -- as a professional athlete, parent, gym owner and lawmaker -- but sounded a warning to her opponents against assuming she had too much on her plate.

"I took the CWG as a challenge and emerged successful since I have always prioritised my training. With this medal I believe I have succeeded in silencing many of my critics. I can challenge anyone when I am on top of my training," she added.

Asked about her chances in the upcoming Asian Games in Jakarta in August, the London Olympics bronze medallist conceded that the Asiad is a tougher tournament, considering the fact that she will have to compete in a higher weight category.

Mary, a Rajya Sabha MP, will have to compete in the Flyweight (51kg) category at the Asiad, since the 48kg division is not a part of the Asian Games and the Olympics.

"The Asian Games will be a bigger challenge, where I will have to compete in a higher weight category. So whatever the category is, I have to be fully ready and focussed on my training," she said.

Mary, who has been competing non-stop for the past five months, starting with the Asian Championships gold in November, has no plans of taking a break.

Ahead of the CWG, Mary won a gold medal in the India Open in January before settling for a silver in the Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria in February.

When asked about the quality of India's coaching staff, Mary was quick to pick women's High-Performance manager Raffaele Bergamasco and her personal coach Chhote Lal Yadav as a great combination.

"Raffaele and Chhote Lal are very good coaches. Rafael is an experienced coach, Chhote Lal is young and can learn a lot from his company. If he continues in the same way, India will not require foreign coaches," she said.

Asked about India's bench strength in women's boxing, Mary sounded positive, and also credited the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for the gradual rise of Indian boxers.

"India has a rich bench strength in women's boxing. I have seen a lot of young boxers coming up, thanks to BFI's efforts of introducing new tournaments like the India Open boxing and also raising their hands in hosting international tournaments like the women's Youth World Championships," she said.

"Lovleena (Borgohain) is a very talented and promising boxer but unfortunately missed the medal (in 69kg category). But I do hope she keeps training hard and not lose focus. Medals will definitely come to her kitty one day," she added.

After returning with an impressive haul of nine medals from the CWG, the Indian boxing contingent will take a break for a few days before heading to the United States for physical training, while the second string side will participate in a tournament in Serbia.

Commenting on the upcoming national camp, Mary said: "It's an 18-day camp, a very good idea by the BFI and the coaches. In boxing it is very important to maintain fitness and strengthening."

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

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The company's table tennis stars Manika Batra with two gold medals, a silver and a bronze for a total of four medals and Achanta Sharath Kamal with a gold, a silver and a bronze for a tally of three medals, were at the forefront of India's magnificent showing at the Games.

Not far behind were shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth who bagged gold and a silver and N. Sikki Reddy who claimed gold and a bronze.

Teeanger Mehuli Ghosh, who is the PSU's player scholarship, missed the gold by a whisker and had to settle for silver in the women's 10 metres Air Rifle event.

The best performance, according to an official release by Indian Oil, was by the table tennis and badminton players. Sharath and Manika spearheaded the TT challenge in the team championships as India claimed its maiden men's and women's team gold medals.

Subsequently, the 22-year-old Manika created history by becoming the first Indian woman paddler to win a Singles gold medal at the CWG.

Indian Oil had its representation in hockey (India finished fourth) too in the form of Kothajit Singh and Gurinder Singh, both defenders while in athletics, Indian Oil's scholarship player, Amoj Jacob qualified for the final round in the 4x400 metres relay.

Indian Oil Chairman Sanjiv Singh congratulated the players for their performances.

"Our sportspersons have undoubtedly shown commendable determination, grit and ambition for achievement, and this was instrumental in their success," he said.

"I am confident that in the future, too, our sportspersons will continue to strive hard and prove their merit so as to keep our national flag flying high in the international arena."

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New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday felicitated army athletes who were a part of the Indian contingent for the recently concluded Commonwealth Games (CWG) held in Gold Coast, Australia.

Army athletes brought home a haul of three gold, three silver and four bronze medals from the Games.

"The Army will continue to monitor the performance of all athletes and will prepare them for the forthcoming Olympics, expecting better performance from them all," the Army said in a statement.

"The Chief of Army Staff acknowledged their performance and felicitated the medal winners. He further encouraged and motivated the athletes to continue their sustained and focused efforts as they train and prepare for the forthcoming international events, before they launch themselves into the Olympics arena," the statement added.

Among the army athletes, the largest number of medals were won by the boxers, who managed a total of five podium finishes.

Havildar Gaurav Solanki won gold in the men's Flyweight (52 kilogram) division while Subedar Satish Kumar Yadav (+91kg), Naib Subedar Amit Kumar Phangal (49kg) and Naib Subedar Manish Kaushik (60kg) got silver in their respective categories.

Naib Subedar Mohd Hassumuddin had to settle for the bronze medal in the bantamweight (56kg) category.

The shooters got three medals with the experienced Subedar Jitu Rai winning gold while Havildar Om Prakash Mitharval bagged two bronze medals.

In athletics, reigning World Junior champion Naib Subedar Neeraj Chopra won gold along with a new meet record in men's Javelin while Naib Subedar Deepak Lather got a bronze in weightlifting.

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New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) Having narrowly lost the Super Heavyweight (+91 kilogram) title at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG), Indian boxer Satish Kumar Yadav is now looking forward to winning gold at bigger events like the Asian Games and Olympics.

Satish lost by a unanimous 0:5 verdict to Frazer Clarke of England after an extremely hard fought final in which both boxers pushed themselves to the limit.

While he is aware that the standard at the Asian Games -- to be held in Jakarta later this year -- will be several notches higher, the seasoned Indian Army boxer asserted that his experience at the Commonwealth Games will hold him in good stead.

"I am happy with my performance at the Commonwealth Games. Now I want to win gold medals at the Asian Games and Olympics. However, the overall standard of boxers in those tournaments will be much better than what I faced in Gold Coast.

"The level of competition at the Asian Games will be very close to the Olympics and World Championships. Former Soviet nations like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan along with Mongolia, Thailand, China and South Korea are among the big powers of world boxing," Satish told IANS.

"But still, the experience at the Commonwealth Games has given me a lot of confidence. Boxers from Australia, England, New Zealand and Ireland are very strong in the Super Heavyweight category. They have extremely good technique as well. I learned a lot by fighting against them.

"For example, the England boxer in the final had a height and reach advantage over me and he was extremely strong defensively as well. I had to use my brains and change my tactics accordingly during the fight. My coach told me to use my speed since I have extremely good endurance," he added.

"Of course, the Asian Games and Olympics will be extremely tough. But I have only one target -- the gold medal. That is the only medal worth fighting for."

The judges had awarded Clarke a unanimous 5:0 victory over Satish in the Super Heavyweight final, which came as a surprise since both boxers were equally matched.

Satish himself was surprised with the verdict and felt that the bout was much closer than what the final decision by the judges indicated.

"Not just me, many among the public at the venue were also surprised and unhappy at the decision.

"The officials from European nations like England or Australia support each other during major tournaments and Indian boxers suffer as a result. This is the reason why Indian boxers are not able to get favourable decisions in very close bouts," the 28-year-old asserted.

"I am not happy with the fact that the judges decision went against me during the final despite the fact I was the better boxer in that bout. The public was also shouting that Satish is the winner.

"So naturally it does make me sad that I lost the gold and will have to be satisfied with the silver," he added.

"Our Indian boxers are extremely strong. But sometimes we are at the receiving end of unfair decisions at big tournaments. If the quality of judges improve and decision making is fair then Indian boxers will dominate at the international level and win more medals at the Olympics at World Championships."

The armyman also asserted that the previous scoring system where the points scored by each boxer was displayed on the big screen was better than the current one where a panel of five judges award their decisions after the end of the bout.

"The earlier scoring system was more open and transparent. The current system lacks transparency. Even after a good performance, decisions can sometimes go against you," he rued.

But the pugilist from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh is determined to put the disappointment in Gold Coast behind him and concentrate of the upcoming tournaments.

"Right now, I am focussed on the Asian Games since that is the next major tournament on the horizon. I will shift my focussed to the Olympics next year after I have earned my qualification," Satish said.

(Ajeyo Basu can be contacted at ajeyo.b@ians.in)

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Then, Mouma, on her arrival at the NSCBI Airport here, found her baggage had not arrived and took to Twitter to complain to the air carrier Jet Airways.

The air carrier replied that she had put her power bank in the check-in baggage, which was "strictly prohibited".

"Mouma, your baggage has been held by customs due to carriage of power bank in the check-in baggage which is strictly prohibited," said the carrier, asking her to share documents so that the process of releasing the luggage could be expedited.

Mouma, however, replied that she had not carried any such gadget.

The paddler, who was part of the gold medal winning India women's team and also partnered Manika Batra to the doubles silver at Gold Coast, then tagged Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore in one of her tweets. A little later she also sought help from External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the Prime Minister's Office, by tagging them in a tweet.

Acting promptly, Rathore directed the Sports Authority of India in another tweet to take up the issue with the Finance Minister immediately.

But the issue was resolved late on Tuesday night after Mouma spoke to her teammates and learnt that a souvenir bag presented by the games organisers did carry a power bank. She admitted her mistake to the Delhi Customs authorities.

"The issue has now been resolved. It was my fault. I never carry a power bank with me.

"When I tweeted earlier I did not know that a souvenir bag given to us carried a power bank. I have confirmed it from Manika and others. I have written to the authorities about the presence of the power bank. The baggage will now be sent to me on Wednesday morning. I am told they are taking very god care of it," Mouma told IANS.

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Kolkata, April 17 (IANS) Returning to a warm welcome here after a spectacular Commonwealth Games performance, ace table tennis player Mouma Das on Tuesday said she was now eyeing a good show in the World Team championship in Sweden beginning later this month.

"Now my target is the World Team Championship. Next week I will be leaving for Sweden," said Mouma, proudly displaying her double medal to a large number of cheering sports buffs, table tennis officials and family members at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Internatinal Airport.

The World Team Table Tennis Championships are scheduled to be held in Halmstad, Sweden from April 29 to May 6.

"If we can finish second in our group, there is a big chance of India participating in the team even in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. That's why we are focussed on it," said Mouma, who was part of the gold medal winning Indian women's team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She also claimed the women's doubles silver partnering Manika Batra.

Mouma was also hopeful of a good performance in the Jakarta Asian Games in August.

"My aim is to give off my best in Jakarta," she said.

Asked about the team coach Italian Massimo Costantini, Mouma said: "His presence helped, as he was our coach during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He knows all the players, their shortcomings, how they can be boosted. Personally speaking, I have learnt quite a few things from him."

Mouma seemed bowled over by the enthusiasm of the fans at the airport, which helped her forget the tension of some of her luggage not arriving in Kolkata.

Leading the welcome party was West Bengal Minister of State for Sports Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who garlanded Mouma and another golden girl Sutirtha Mukherjee, who was part of the women's team, as also the team coach Soumyadeep Roy.

The three were offered sweets and felicitated by the minister, and other table tennis officials with flowers and balloons.

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By Tridib Baparnash

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) Congratulating the Indian contingent, which returned with an impressive haul of nine medals from the just-concluded Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) President Ajay Singh on Tuesday warned the boxers not to get carried away with the recent accolades.

Inspired by five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom's maiden CWG gold in women's 48 kilogram category, India's Vikas Krishan (75 kg) Gaurav Solanki (52 kg) also clinched the yellow medal.

Satish Kumar (91kg), Amit Panghal (49kg) and Manish Kaushik (60kg) settled for silvers while Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg) and Manoj Kumar (69kg) bagged bronze medals after losing their semi-final bouts.

Their feat at the CWG have indeed created a flutter among fans but Singh wants the boxers to keep their focus, keeping in mind the busy season ahead.

"This is surely a historic performance. We are extremely proud of our boxers, and congratulate the great support from the coaches and the support staff. But I would like to say, this is just the start," Singh told IANS on the sidelines of a felicitation programme for the boxing contingent.

"Having done so well in Gold Coast, we should not take ourselves for granted. There is so much more to achieve as the ultimate objective to get Olympic medals in 2020 and 2024.

"We are trying to built a team for the future and make sure that India is a powerhouse, a leading nation in the world in boxing," he added.

Singh further said that the CWG performance is a testimony to BFI's hard work but cautioned the boxers that the upcoming Asian Games won't be an easy nut to crack.

"What the CWG performance shows us is that we are in the right path. We have a much tougher competition coming up in the form of the Asian Games in August.

"We will prepare for the Asiad, starting next week with both the men and women's teams travelling to Serbia. We also have the World Series Boxing next week where we are hosting Russia. We are also sending our teams to the Michael Johnson Academy in Texas, before the Asian Games," he added.

Hailing the BFI's initiatives and support for the magnificent show of Indian pugilists in Gold Coast, Mary Kom said: "It is a proud moment for me to win my first CWG medal, but this wouldn't have been possible without the support of the BFI and the sports ministry."

"BFI is doing an incredible job in bringing top boxing events to India and the amount of exposure the young boxers are getting from these events will surely help them and India to become a boxing super power in the near future," she added.

(Tridib Baparnash can be contacted at tridib.b@ians.in)

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By Veturi Srivatsa

It took 20 years for India to host the Games which will again be remembered for real or imaginary scandals involving the top officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

Over the years the drug record of the Indian athletes has been terrible, mostly the weightlifters causing the embarrassment. Just when everyone was rejoicing the wonderful performances at Gold Coast, two athletes were sent home for violating the no needle policy of the Commonwealth Games Federation, though there was no doping involved.

Walker Irfan Kolothum Thodi and triple jumper A.V. Rakesh Babu had to leave the Games Village in disgrace.

Leave the unsavoury part and see what the stats tell us. India's medal haul at the just-concluded Gold Coast Games is their third highest behind the 2010 New Delhi home Games and the one at Manchester in 2002.

India returned with 26 gold medals, more than the 20 silver and bronze each, adding up to a grand tally of 66, three less than the Manchester bag (33 gold, 22 bronze and 17 silver), never mind they were far far behind in third position, Australia, topping with 198, and England ending up with 166.

Actually India have performed much better than they did at Manchester whereas the figures reveal only a part of the excellent showing of the athletes.

India won 30 gold at Manchester, but then weihgtlifting used to fetch three gold medals in each weight category -- snatch, cleand and jerk and total while shooting doesn't have the pairs events. Delhi's is a different case with athletes winning in a lot more disiciplines.

Everyone may have put their money on a Saina Nehwal-Pusarla Venkata Sindhu badminton final, but not many may have thought that the team gold will come their way for the first time. Saina seems to be at her best playing Sindhu while the latter appears to choke. Still, the odds would have been even.

Sindhu not playing in the team event and her semifinal against an injured Canadian Michelle Li, who was going through the motions for most part of the match, was not the best of preparation for her. All the same, Sania played like a champion.

Saina told the NDTV Hyderabad bureau chief that their Guru, Pullela Gopichand, told both Sindhu and her that they should treat the match just as as any other game and after the final they are friends.

Few would have backed India to win the table tennis team gold, let alone the tall, lanky Manika Batra winning the singles individual gold, that too beating World No.4 Feng Tianwei from Singapore.

Manika beat her opponent not once but twice, the first victory paving the way for India to win the team gold. In fact, she won a medal in every event she took part.

The newly-crowned World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth coud have done a Manika if he had beaten Lee Chong Wei in the singles final after his victory over the Malaysian gave India a crucial point in winning the team gold, though the mixed doubles win by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa was as important. Srikanth was right on top to win in the team event in straight games, but Lee hit back after losing the first game in the singles gold medal match.

Another performance worth taking note from the badminton courts is the rise of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty as a doubles pair to take the silver after a gripping final.

In table tennis, three gold medals, two silver and three bronze are a big bonanza, while Dipika Pallikal Karthik won two silver medals in the doubles.

The gold rush was started by the weightlifters who had an impressive haul of five gold, two silver and two bronze, while the wrestlers did better with five gold, three silver and four bronze, with Sushil Kumar proving that he can make a comeback any day and still ewalk away with the gold easily. Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik and Babita Phogat had to settle for silver when they were expected to get gold.

The boxers did well to win three gold, three silver and three bronze medals. Mary Kom was the only Indian woman to win a medal, gold at that. Like Sushil Kumar, Mary has proved that she is still good to get a shot at another Olympic medal in Tokyo two years from now.

The shooters expectedly lead India's medal standings. Anish Bhanwala, 15, and Manu Bhaker, 16, are the two youngest gold medal winners, while Tejaswini Sawant returned to the podium to take the gold after 12 years after winning it in Melbourne in 2006. Their kitty is seven gold, four silver and five bronze.

Another yuoungster who created some sensation is Neeraj Chopra by becoming only the fourth Indian athlete to win the gold from track and field, his spat with the Athletics Federation (AFI) chief Adille Sumariwala over his training under a German coach Werner Daniels and not the AFI's javelin head coach Uwe Hohn, both with top credentials.

All in all, the spread of medals from disciplines is highly encouraging three months ahead of the Asian Games, though the competition in Jakarta will be a lot tougher in most of the disciplines in which the Indians did so well at Gold Coast.

In this euphoria no one seems to have bothered about the performance of the hockey team!

(Veturi Srivatsa is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)

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By Kaushik Kumar

New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) Teenaged shooting sensation Mehuli Ghosh reckons that her silver medal at the just-concluded 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) is a huge boost as it will help her at future competitions.

The 17-year-old Kolkata girl had surpassed defending champion Apurvi Chandela in the last few moments of the women's 10 metre air rifle event of the 2018 CWG but missed the yellow metal by a whisker.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of a felicitation event organised by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Mehuli said: "It was my first CWG and this (silver medal) is like a booster for me. I however, missed the gold by a whisker."

"I gained a lot of experience and lessons from here (CWG) and I surely hope that all this will help me in my future competitions," she explained.

The silver medallist, who will now be featuring at the World Cup Shooting Championship, scheduled to begin on April 20 in South Korea, further said that she takes every competitions as a new beginning.

"I try to start every competition from scratch, so I will have to again focus on my game, give my best in every shot and have to fight till the last," Mehuli said.

Mehuli further revealed that she had a brief chat with her coach Joydeep Karmakar, who represented India at 2012 London Olympics in shooting, before going to the final game at the 2018 CWG.

"I just had a short 2-3 minute talk with my coach before the finals. As my qualification round was not up to the level, he (Karmakar) asked me to forget about it.

"He motivated me saying that the finals are again a new start and asked to just focus on my game," Mehuli said.

Further explaining about her goals, she said: "I have Asian Games and World Championship, which are very crucial competitions for me. I have a target to earn the Olympic quota."

"I don't really think about medals or scores, which I hardly do. I am just focussing on my techniques," she added.

She also opined that as a number of youngsters are taking up the game (shooting), competition level has become too high nowadays compared to previous years.

Speaking on the amount of pressure in prestigious events like the CWG, Mehuli explaind: "If I think about pressure, it will not work for me. At such big levels, it (pressure) is a part of the game."

"Each and every players face such situations, we just have to go through it," Mehuli concluded.

(Kaushik Kumar can be contacted at kaushik.k@ians.in)

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New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) On the back of her gruelling final match at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG), ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu says no loss is ever enough to stop her from believing in herself, and she is once again ready to roar.

Sindhu, who led the Indian contingent at the glittering opening ceremony which launched the CWG in Gold Coast, Australia, was defeated by Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal in the much-anticipated women's singles summit clash. Nehwal won the gold medal while Sindhu bagged the silver.

Now that Sindhu, brand ambassador of sports drink brand Gatorade, is back in the country, she has penned an open letter on her never-say-die attitude.

"One more down but many more to go! As much as I had given my all to this game, I am once again ready to roar for my next fight, to finish and win. This is my journey, the journey of a sportsperson, every feat accomplished is followed by zeroing on the next target.

"No loss is ever enough, neither one nor many to stop me from believing in myself. Every time I miss a return, every time my shot fails to clear the net and every time I hit it long -- I remind myself, it is not done until I am done," Sindhu wrote.

Sindhu, who had earlier made India proud at the Rio Olympics, where she thrashed Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the women's singles badminton semi-final, becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the quadrennial event, said it was a proud feeling to stand on the CWG podium and receive a medal for the country.

"Standing at the podium, head bowed to receive my Silver Commonwealth medal at the women's singles event, the heart swells with pride, moments of struggle, strife and sweat flash before my eyes. For me victory only begins to sink when the first beat of national anthem falls on my ears and then it gets louder, so do the cheers from the crowd, that is when I finally breathe out -- mission accomplished.

"Marching down the tracks as the flagbearer of the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games this year, I felt rest upon my shoulders the hope and faith of a million. With every step that I took, I knew it was time to bring together my skill, stamina and most of all my spirit, the spirit to rise higher after every fall, come back harder after every drop.

"From the moment of get, set and go until my last smash, I sweat from every pore, using every iota of strength left in me because giving up is not an option," she wrote.

Sindhu believes one should "let nothing stand in the way of your dreams, let nothing pull you down, let nothing beat you".

"Winning becomes a habit when sweating for it becomes an attitude! So, to all my countrymen and women, fans, well-wishers and badminton lovers who now tune out after having savoured a nail-biting finish, know that I am not done. My journey with Gatorade to Sweat More, Sweat for Gold continues unabashed," she posted.

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"Every gold medal winner will get cash award of Rs 1.5 crore, silver medal winner Rs 75 lakh and bronze medal winner Rs 50 lakh," Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said while addressing a public meeting at village Siwah in Panipat.

Describing Haryana as a hub of sports, he said that Haryana is a small state having just two per cent population of the country, yet the players have brought laurels at national and international level with their performances.

"The Indian contingent finished third in the medal tally with a total of 66 medals in CWG. Haryana players, especially the women, led the medal tally for India with a total of 22 individual medals which is 33 per cent," he said.

Khattar said that Haryana is the only state in the country where cash award of Rs 6 crore is given for winning the gold medal in Olympics, Rs 4 crore for silver medal and Rs 2.5 crore for bronze medal.

"In addition, the players would be appointed as HCS (Haryana Civil Service) and HPS (Haryana Police Service) officers as well as in other government jobs according to their achievements, he added.

State Sports Minister Anil Vij said that players from Haryana won 9 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze in the 2018 CWG.

A total of 38 players from Haryana participated in the CWG.

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With a total of 66 medals, which included a grand haul of 26 Gold medals, 20 Silver and 20 Bronze at the Gold Coast Games, the Indian contingent surpassed the tally of 64 with 15 golds, achieved at the last edition of the quadrennial event at Glasgow in 2014.

Congratulating the athletes, Batra said: "On behalf of the IOA, I would like to congratulate each and every athlete who participated in the Commonwealth Games and brought glory to the country."

"Their hard work has paid rich dividends and I can proudly say that we as a nation are on the right path to becoming a sporting powerhouse," the IOA chief opined.

Significantly, the 2018 CWG also became India's third best outing ever in the event's history. Over the entire stretch of the event at the Gold Coast, Indian athletes shattered 11 CWG records.

"I wish all the athletes the very best in this Olympic cycle and hope they continue to improve upon their performance in the lead up to 2018 Asian Games and the 2020 Olympic Games," Batra concluded.

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Athletes, including the competing countries' respective flag-bearers, marched on to the arena before the ceremony commenced, meaning the audience at Carrara stadium could see them, but the TV audience couldn't. Many athletes were seen leaving the stadium while the closing speeches were still in progress, reports Xinhua news agency.

The ceremony was even criticised by Australian broadcasters, Channel Seven, with former CWG bronze Medallist Johanna Griggs saying during the live coverage she was "furious" with the decision.

"They're actually wrecking a tradition that is so important and part of the Commonwealth Games," Griggs said, live on air. "Unfortunately tonight, the organizing committee, together with the host broadcasters, just didn't get it right."

Commonwealth Games Chairman Peter Beattie acknowledged on Monday that organisers made a mistake featuring athletes in the pre-show instead of the television coverage.

"If the athletes didn't come into the stadium until the broadcast time they would have been stuck in a field or a paddock somewhere," Beattie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday.

Beattie, who had previously described the CWG as "inspirational" and "innovative," said he was disappointed the viewers at home did not get to see the athletes.

"We wanted athletes to be part of and enjoy the closing ceremony. However, having them come in to the stadium in the pre-show meant the TV audience were not able to see the athletes enter the stadium. We got that wrong," the Commonwealth Games chairman said.

"The people who are angry are justified. The people who have been critical are also justified," Beattie said.

"Unfortunately tonight, the organising committee, together with the host broadcasters, just didn't get it right."

In a social media post on Monday morning, Beattie said the closing ceremony telecast should have been organised more appropriately.

"The speeches were too many and too long. I was part of that and I acknowledge it. Again, we got that wrong," he wrote.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who actually spoke at the closing ceremony, also criticised the organisers on Monday.

"At the end of the day, we appoint an agency to run the day to day operations of the Games," Palaszczuk told reporters.

"Whoever made that decision not to allow those athletes to march in should hang their heads in shame."

Athletes themselves have said they were disappointed to not be included in the closing ceremony.

Angus Brandt, a member of the Australian basketball team which won a gold medal, said the entire Australian basketball team was disappointed to be left out.

"It was a little disappointing with the athletes being brought in before the actual ceremony began," Brandt said on Australian Television on Monday.

"We were looking forward to being part of the Closing Ceremony and being recognized for what we had done in the games."

The host broadcaster of the CWG, NEP Group, also released a social media post saying it was "disappointed."

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India finished the CWG with 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. This year's total of 66 medals is the third highest haul for India in the history of the CWG.

In the medals table, India is only behind Australia (198 medals) and England (166 medals).

"India's contingent at the 2018 Commonwealth Games has made every Indian extremely proud. All our sportspersons gave their best and played very well. I congratulate all those athletes who are bringing back medals," Modi said in a statement.

"Every athlete who represented India at 2018 Commonwealth Games inspires us. Their life stories illustrate the power of dedication and a never-say-die attitude that made them overcome countless hurdles to attain the heights of success they did at the CWG," the PM added.

India's best performance till date came at home during the 2010 Delhi Games, which produced a tally of 101 medals -- 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.

The second highest medals tally of 69 came in 2002 in Manchester: 30 gold along with 22 silver and 17 bronze.

"I hope India's success at 2018 Commonwealth Games motivates more youngsters to pursue sports and creates larger awareness on the importance of fitness in everyone's lives," he said.

"On our part, we in the Government are doing everything possible to strengthen the FitIndia movement."

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India bagged a total of seven medals on the final day. India finished the Games with 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. This year's total of 66 medals is the third highest haul for India in the history of the CWG.

In the medal table, India is only behind Australia (198 medals) and England (166 medals).

India's best performance till date came at home during the 2010 Delhi Games, which produced a tally of 101 medals -- 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.

The second highest medals tally of 69 came at 2002 in Manchester: 30 gold along with 22 silver and 17 bronze.

Saina and Sindhu were involved in an intense, high tempo women's singles final. Saina, 28, displayed superb form to clinch a 21-18, 23-21 victory for the second CWG singles title of her career. Her maiden CWG singles gold came at the 2010 Games in New Delhi.

For Sindhu, this was the second CWG singles medal of her career, the first being bronze at Glasgow 2014.

Srikanth was involved in an equally entertaining men's singles final against Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei. Although Srikanth dominated the opening game, Lee showed his true class later to register a 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 victory for the fifth CWG title of a glittering career.

The last two games were totally one-sided as the veteran Malaysian star handed out a masterclass in placement and deception. Srikanth was virtually reduced to a spectator as Lee piled on the points.

The men's doubles team of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also settled for the silver medal after going down 13-21, 16-21 to England's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge.

In squash, defending champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settled for the silver medal in women's doubles after losing 9-11, 8-11 to New Zealand's Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy.

This was Joshna's first and Dipika's second medal at Gold Coast after taking silver in the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal. "Might have fallen short on both my finals but what a magical week it's been for me. Thank you to both my partners for holding me together through these 2 weeks. #cwg2018," Dipika wrote on Twitter.

Veteran table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal bagged the men's singles bronze medal beating England's Samuel Walker 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10. It was the veteran's third medal here, after the men's team gold and the silver in the men's doubles.

Meanwhile, Manika Batra grabbed her fourth medal at this year's CWG. She bagged bronze in the mixed doubles table tennis competition in the company of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

Manika and Sathiyan defeated veteran compatriots Sharath and Mouma Das 11-6, 11-2, 11-4 in the play-off for the third position at the Oxenford Studios here. India pocketed a total of eight medals in table tennis.

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1. Australia 80 59 59 198
2. England 45 45 46 136
3. India 26 20 20 66
4. Canada 15 40 27 82
5. New Zealand 15 16 15 46
6. South Africa 13 11 13 37
7. Wales 10 12 14 36
8. Scotland 9 13 22 44
9. Nigeria 9 9 6 24
   10.Cyprus 8 1 5 14

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Gold Coast (Australia), April 15 (IANS) The star badminton trio of Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were the centre of attraction as the Indian contingent ended their campaign at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) on a high here on Sunday.

India bagged a total of six medals on the final day. India finished the Games with 26 golds, 20 silvers and 20 bronze medals. This year's total of 66 medals is the third highest haul for India in the history of the CWG.

Their best performance till date came at home during the 2010 Delhi Games, which produced a tally of 101 medals. That included 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.

The second highest medals tally of 69 came at the 2002 Games in Manchester, England. The Indian contingent won 30 gold at that edition along with 22 silver and 17 bronze.

Saina and Sindhu were involved in an intense, high tempo women's singles final. Saina displayed superb form to clinch a 21-18, 23-21 victory for the second CWG singles title of her career. Her maiden CWG singles gold came at the 2010 Games in New Delhi.

For Sindhu, this was the second CWG singles medal of her career, the first being bronze at Glasgow 2014.

Srikanth was involved in an equally entertaining men's singles final against Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei. Although Srikanth dominated the opening game, Lee showed his true class later in the contest to register a 19-21, 21-14, 21-14 victory for the fifth CWG title of a glittering career.

The last two games were totally one-sided as the veteran Malaysian star handed out a masterclass in placement and deception. Srikanth was virtually reduced to a spectator as Lee piled on the points.

The men's doubles team of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also settled for the silver medal after going down 13-21, 16-21 to England's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge.

In squash, defending champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settled for the silver medal in women's doubles after losing 9-11, 8-11 to New Zealand's Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy.

This was Joshna's first and Dipika's second medal at Gold Coast after taking silver in the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal.

Veteran table tennis star Achanta Sharath Kamal bagged the men's singles bronze medal by beating England's Samuel Walker 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10.

Meanwhile, Manika Batra grabbed her fourth medal at this year's CWG. She bagged bronze in the mixed doubles table tennis competition in the company of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran.

Manika and Sathiyan defeated compatriots Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das 11-6, 11-2, 11-4 in the play-off for the third position at the Oxenford Studios here.

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Gold Coast (Australia), April 15 (IANS) India's Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Sunday settled for the silver medal in men's doubles badminton at the 21st Commonwealth Games after going down meekly to England's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge here.

The Indian pair lost 13-21, 16-21 in the summit clash that lasted for 39 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena, here.

With the loss, Satwik and Chirag settled for the silver medal, bringing an end to India's campaign in the Gold Coast Games.

The Indian duo lacked the intensity from the start trailing 7-11 midway into the opening game. The English pair continued to pile the misery after the break taking a 14-9 lead and later closing the 16-minute affair at 21-13.

The second game saw a much better effort from the Indians trailing 3-4 initially but failed to take the lead as Marcus and Chris surged ahead with a 11-5 lead at the break.

The story remained the same in the second half as the Britons rose to a 14-10 lead even after the Indian pair scored four consecutive points to eat into the lead. But unforced errors at the net once again cost India as Marcus and Chris took full advantage to close the tie and clinch the gold in 23 minutes.

With the conclusion of the men's doubles tie, India have eventually finished their CWG campaign with 66 medals in third spot.

India now have 26 golds, 20 silvers and 20 bronze medals in this edition.

This also means India ended up with two more medals than the last edition in Glasgow. But what's more heart-warming with respect to medal tallies is that India have almost doubled the number of golds from 2014.

Glasgow saw India complete with 15 golds, while there have been 26 at Gold Coast.

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The Indian pair lost 13-21, 16-21 in the summit clash that lasted for 39 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena, here.

With the loss, Satwik and Chirag settled for the silver medal, bringing an end to India's campaign in the Gold Coast Games.

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The Indian duo lost 0-2 (9-11, 8-11) to the Kiwis in the pulsating 22-minute summit clash at the Oxenford Studios here.

Joshna and Dipika, who lifted the gold in Glasgow, failed to match the intensity of their opponents in Sunday's summit clash.

After comfortably pocketing the opening game, the New Zealanders continued to dominate in the second as the Indian pair struggled to get back and eventually finish on the losing side.

In the semi-finals on Saturday, Dipika and Joshna outplayed England's Laura Massaro and Sarah-Jane Perry in straight games 2-0 (11-10, 11-5).

This was Joshna's first and Dipika's second medal at Gold Coast after winning silver in the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal.

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Gold Coast (Australia), April 15 (IANS) India's Achanta Sharath Kamal on Sunday bagged the bronze medal in men's singles table tennis competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games, beating England's Samuel Walker.

The World No.48 Indian defeated the Englishman 4-1 (11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10) in the play-off match for the third place at the Oxenford Studios here.

Sharath looked at his aggressive best, comfortably pocketing the opening two games. He, however looked a bit complacent in the third game which the Englishman took full advantage of and clinched it with ease.

Sharath, however bounced back well on time in the fourth game to clinch it comfortably but was up for a tough challenge in the fifth game with Walker going neck and neck.

The veteran Indian had to bring all his experience into play to tame the Englishman to bag the bronze medal.

This was Sharath's third medal at the Gold Coast games. He was a part of the gold medal-winning men's team and also won silver in the men's doubles event at the games.

This is his third Commonwealth Games singles medal after winning bronze at the 2010 Games and gold in the 2006 edition. He had missed out on a medal in Glasgow. He remains the only Indian to win the men's singles title at the Games.

This caps off a memorable edition of the Games for the Indian table tennis team who have won seven medals at Gold Coast, including three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

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Gold Coast (Australia), April 15 (IANS) Indian star Kidambi Srikanth had to remain satisfied with the silver medal after losing to an inspired Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the men's singles badminton final at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Sunday.

Srikanth had a good start as he won the opening game. But the veteran Malay blew him away in the next two games as Srikanth went down 21-19, 14-21, 14-21 in an hour and five minutes.

This was the fifth CWG title of the Malaysian star's glittering career which has produced three Olympic silvers and four World Championships medals.

Sunday's contest was an absorbing battle between the World No.1 Indian and the World No.7 from Malaysia.

Srikanth troubled Lee during the initial stages with his powerful smashes. But Lee shook off his initial troubles to gradually come into own and subdue his younger rival with an awesome performance.

Alhough Lee took the early lead in the first game, Srikanth fought back to draw level at 7-7 before a couple of powerful smashes gave him a 9-7 lead.

A series of excellent rallies saw Lee take three consecutive points and take the lead at 15-14 before Srikanth drew level in very next point.

A smash into Lee's body gave Srikanth the lead at 16-15 before the Malaysian drew level yet again with a superb placement.

Srikanth took lead once again at 19-17 and although Lee drew level with back to back winners, the Indian took three consecutive points to win the first game.

That turned out to be the only bit of celebration that Srikanth and his Indian fans among the sell-out crowd will manage on the day.

Lee was on a completely different level in the next game. Srikanth had started well, taking the the lead initially.

But Lee took the lead at 11-9 and fought back some ferocious efforts by the Indian to increase his lead slowly but surely until he took the second game to draw level.

The Malaysian continued his domination in the third and final game, opening up an early lead.

Srikanth had no answer to the superb placements, quickness and accuracy of his illustrous opponent as the two rivals went into the mid game break with Lee in command of a comfortable 11-5 lead.

Lee continued to plunder points as will before closing off the game by a comfortable margin to seal the title.

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The Indian duo lost 0-2 (9-11, 8-11) to the Kiwis in the pulsating 22-minute summit clash at the Oxenford Studios here.

The post CWG: Dipika-Joshna wins silver in women’s doubles squash appeared first on Social News XYZ.

Srikanth had a good start as he won the opening game. But the veteran Malay blew him away in the next two games as Srikanth went down 21-19, 14-21, 14-21 in an hour and five minutes.

The post CWG: Srikanth settles for men’s singles silver appeared first on Social News XYZ.