Star boxer Vijender Singh ensured India would at least win a bronze medal by cruising into the semifinals, while four Indian wrestlers settled for silvers on the seventh day of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.
Indian pugilists had an impressive day as apart from Vijender, who outclassed Aaron Prince of Trinidad and Tobago 3-0, Pinki Rani and L Sarita Devi also booked semifinal berths.
Rani easily defeated Papua New Guinea's Jacquiline Wangi 4-0, while Sarita, after losing the opening round against Charlene Jones, turned the tide and clinched the bout 3-1.
The Asian Championship silver medallist Mandeep Singh also advanced to the last-four in the 69 kg category, after his opponent failed a medical test ahead of the clash. However, Amritpreet Singh crashed out in the quarterfinals of the men's 91 kg category.
Indian grapplers continued their impressive form in the Glasgow Games and added five medals (four silvers and one bronze). Satyawart Kadian, Bajrang, Lalita Sehrawat and Sakshi Malik had to settle for silvers, while Navjot Kaur won bronze.
The wrestlers did manage to increase India's medal tally, but the way they lost their final bouts was worrisome. Most of the grapplers, except Kadian, could not put up a fight, as Lalita was pinned just seconds into the match, while Bajrang and Sakshi paid the price for not being aware of the dangers early on.
In the track and field event, discus thrower Vikas Gowda sealed his place in the finals. Gowda booked his place in his first attempt with a throw of 64.32 metres, and was way ahead of Apostolos Parellis (61.91m) and Chad Wright (61.08m).
Sahana Nagaraj qualified for the finals in the women's high jump event, after finishing seventh with a best effort of 1.85m. Meanwhile, Mayookha Johny failed to qualify for the women's long jump finals as her 6.11m effort was not good enough to make the cut.
In the badminton singles event, star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap made flying starts, outclassing their opponents in straight games in the Round of 32, while other singles players, PC Thulasi, RMV Gurusaidutt and Kidambi Srikanth also won their respective matches.
Sindhu took just 17 minutes to overpower her South African opponent Sandra Le Grange 21-4 21-6, while Kashyap also breezed past Dakeil Thorpe 21-9, 21-5 in just 19 minutes at the Emirates Arena.
In the doubles event, Pranav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar entered the pre-quarterfinals by easing past Sri Lanka pair Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Dullewa 21-10, 21-9. The pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also reached the Round of 16 with a walkover.
