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Bindra-Narang: India's gold fingers

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang with the tricolour after their gold medal-winning feat

Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang gave India the desired start, firing a record 1193 in the men's 10m air rifle event to give the country its first gold medal in this edition of the Games.

Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayeed then followed it up with another gold in pairs 25m pistol event for women

With this score, Abhinav-Gagan broke their own record, which they had set four years ago in Melbourne, totalling 1189.

World record holder Gagan shot a spectacular sequence of 99, 100, 100, 99, 100, 100 to total a grand 598, while Beijing Olympic gold medalist Bindra's series read 100, 98 ,99, 100, 99, 99 for a total of 595 in the first shooting event of the Games.

Deepak-Omkar shimmer in silver

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
India's Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh are all smiles after clinching silver in 50m pistol event

Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh (1187) then clinched the silver medal in 50m pistol for men, finishing just seven points behind Singapore's Bin Gai and Swee Hon Lim.

Trinidad & Tobago's Roger Peter Daniel and Rhodney Richard Allen bagged the bronze medal in the event.

Sarnobat-Sayeed break 8-yr old record

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Anisa Sayyed of India (right) and compatriot Rahi Sarnobat pose with their gold medals after winning the women's 25m pairs pistol shooting competition

Pistol shooters Sarnobat and Sayeed also broke an eight-year-old record. The pair shot an impressive 1158 to finish ahead of Australia's Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Linda Ryan (1148) and England's Gorgs Geikie and Julia Lydall (1122).

The previous record in the 25m pistol (women) stood in the name of Australia's Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Linda Ryan, who totalled 1150 at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Later in the day, Women shooters Tejaswini Sawant and Lajja Goswami continued India's medal rush, winning the silver medal in the pairs 50m rifle 3 position.

Khade lone Indian to make waves in pool

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
South Africa's Jean Basson competes in the men's 200m freestyle swimming heats

It was a disappointing day for Indian swimmers as six of crashed out in different categories, while Virdhawal Khade was the only Indian to make any sort of progress.

Khade entered the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly stroke. He registered a timing of 24.72s to place eighth, but his compatriot Arjun Muralidharan could finish only in 26.37s and placed 20th. Only the top 16 make it to the next stage.

The para-sport swimmers brought smiles, as Kiran Tak (00:38.79s) and Anjani Patel (00:47.64s) progressed to the semi-finals in the women's 50m S9 women's freestyle.

However, Vineeta Pathak's timing of 52.58s was not good enough for her to move to the next stage.

Somdev advances to 2nd rnd

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Charlotte McKenna of Northern Ireland competes on the floor exercise during team gymnastics

Top seed Somdev Devvarman survived a scare before progressing to the pre-quarter-finals of the men's singles tennis event at the Commonwealth Games. The Indian ace got past The Bahamas' Devin Mullings 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round.

Mullings gave home fans anxious moments by racing to a 4-1 lead in the opening set but Somdev clawed his way back in the match by winning five games in a row.

However, the severe heat took a toll on Mullings, who started suffering cramps, which played a part in preventing a huge upset in the men's singles.

Mullings took a medical time out in the seventh game of the first set and that changed the tide turned in the favour of Somdev.

Australia take first two gold medals in cycling

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Scott Sunderland of Australia pedals his way to a gold in the men's 1000m Time Trial finals

Australia won the men's and women's time trial races in Commonwealth Games record times, grabbing the first two gold medals in cycling at New Delhi 2010.

Olympic and world champion Anna Meares won the women's 500-meter time trial in 33.758 seconds, beating the record of 34.326 she set in 2006. Poland's Simona Krupeckaite holds the world record at 33.296 seconds.

Scott Sunderland won the men's 1-kilometre time trial in 1 minute 1.411 seconds, beating the games record of 1:01.726 set by Chris Hoy of Scotland at Manchester in 2002.

Meares's teammate Kaarle McCulloch took silver in 34.780 seconds in the women's race, while the bronze went to Becky James of Wales in 35.236 seconds.

Indian pugilists punch their way forward

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Rustam Sarang of India competes in the men's 62kg weightlifting competition

Backed by a capacity crowd, Indian boxers opened their campaign in style with Amandeep Singh (49kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) advancing to the pre-quarterfinals, following thumping wins in their opening bouts.

While Commonwealth Championships gold-medallist Amandeep defeated Kenya's Peter Warui 6-2 for the second successive time this year, Manoj was so dominant against Sirrera Leone's Daniel Lassoyo that the referee had to award the bout to the Indian midway through the second round when he was leading 17-1.

Amandeep will next face Rawanda's Haziza Matusi and Manoj will now square off against Gomotsang Gaasite of Botswana.

Wrestlers add to India's gold glut

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Ravinder Singh (right) celebrates his victory over England's Terence Bosson

Wrestlers Ravinder Singh, Anil Kumar and Sanjay Kumar swelled India's gold medal tally, winning their respective men's events, on the second day of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi on Tuesday.

Ravinder pinned down England's Terence Christopher in the second period, after taking a convincing 7-0 lead, to win the Greco-Roman 60-kg gold medal.

In the very next bout, Sanjay edged past South Africa's Richard Brian 1-0 in the 74-kg Greco-Roman category to earn India's second gold medal from the discipline.

That was followed by Anil Kumar beating Hassene Fkiri of Australia 3-0 in the 96-kg Greco-Roman event, making it three out of the three gold medals decided.

"The Greco-Roman wrestling event was introduced for the first time, so I feel great to become the first gold medallist. I played an attacking game and it was great my opponent could not even take a single point off me," the 28-year-old Ravinder said.

India edge past Malaysia

Last updated on: October 5, 2010 23:23 IST
Bharat Chikkara (right) celebrates with Sardar Singh after scoring the winner against Malaysia

India had to play out of their skin as they rallied from a goal down to edge past spirited Malaysia 3-2 in a Pool A match of the men's hockey event at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Dhanjay Mahadik (27th minute) and Sandeep Singh (35) scored from two set pieces for India, while Bharat Chikkara (66) netted the winner just three minutes before the hooter.

For Malaysia, Hanafi Hafifihafiz (15th) and Azlan Misron (34th) were the goal-scorers.

"It was a difficult match. I am happy at least we won three points," India coach Brasa said.

"But it will be more difficult against Australia, we will have to defend well, they are the top team in the world. We will have to change few things. We have to plug those holes in defence," he added.

India captain Rajpal Singh said his team will try to conceded less mistakes against the Australians on Thursday.

"I am happy. Since we played World Cup here, there was no pressure. The crowd support has helped us a lot. We will try not to repeat the mistakes we committed against Australia in the World Cup," he said.