Commonwealth Games 2018, Day 4: Punam, Manu and Manika lead India's golden charge
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Image Source : PTIFrom weightlifting to boxing to table tennis to hockey, women formed the core of India's stupendous day four at the 21st Commonwealth Games where a 16-year-old Manu Bhaker delivered a record-shattering shooting gold medal and the table tennis team shocked fancied defending champions Singapore to clinch the top honours for the first time in the event.
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In the weightlifting arena of the Carrara Sports and Leisure Center, Punam Yadav (69kg) pulled off a personal best of 222kg (110kg+122kg) to improve the bronze she had won in the 2014 edition to add another gold to India's haul.
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Another high point of the day was a 35-year-old M C Mary Kom advancing to the medal rounds in what is her first and probably last appearance at the Games. Mary Kom made the semifinals with a sound thrashing of Scotland's Megan Gordon her victory assuring the Indian boxing contingent of its first CWG medal at the ongoing edition. Among the men, world bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) advanced to the quarterfinals.
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The women's hockey team showed tremendous grit to stun Olympic champions England in its third pool match in what can only be described as a morale-soaring 2-1 victory, which took them closer to a semifinal berth.
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From the shooting ranges in Brisbane to the weightlifting arena here, it was all about women today. And starting it all was Manu Bhaker, the teen sensation from Haryana, who shot down the Games record and the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event. A distant silver-medallist in the event also happened to be a woman -- Heena Sidhu.
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The women's table tennis team of Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das did what was not at all expected of them, beat defending champions Singapore 3-1 for a historic maiden gold.
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"It was my first time playing against Feng, the moment I knew I won against the world No.4, I felt on top of the world. Even in my wildest dream I had not thought that I will beat an Olympic medallist and world number four,"Batra said after her shock win over Feng Tianwei.
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The men's hockey team, meanwhile, continued to be slightly off and had to work hard for a 4-3 win over Wales in their second pool B match. They had yesterday settled for a disappointing 2-2 draw with a sloppy Pakistan, the equalising goal from the rivals coming in the final seven seconds of the match.