Four-time national champion Tulika Mann defeated New Zealand's Sydnee Andrews in no time to storm into the women's 78kg Judo final. The 22-year-old trailed in the match initially but performed an 'Ippon' to humble Andrews within three minutes in the semifinal match.
The only other Indian, Deepak Deswal, went down to Fiji's Tevita Takawaya in the men's 100kg Repechage event. This is India's third medal in Judo at the showpiece event. L Shushila Devi and Vijay Kumar had claimed a silver and bronze in women's 48kg and men's 60kg respectively on Monday.
It must be noted that in the wake of the de-recognition of the Judo Federation of India on April 22, an expert committee was constituted by the Sports Authority of India to oversee the trials and the selection process for the CWG and also suggest necessary changes.
The committee included Olympian Judokas Cawas Billimoria, Sandeep Byala and Sunith Thakur as well as Judo masters Arun Dwivedi and Yogesh K Dhadve.
Earlier, the Indian women's hockey team defeated Canada 3-2 to enter the semifinals where they'll go head-to-head with Australia. Lovepreet Singh, on the other hand, won a bronze medal in the men's 109kg weightlifting event.
Final Standing
- Junior Periclex (Cameroon) - 361kg
- Jack Hitila (Samoa) - 358kg
- Lovepreet Singh (India) - 355kg
Lovepreet's best lift in snatch was 163kg followed by the best lift in his 3rd Clean and Jerk attempt of 192kg. At the end of the snatch event, Lovepreet was 2nd best. But Junior, who ultimately won the gold medal, lifted a whopping 9kg more in his 2nd attempt of clean and jerk (201kg).
In the end, Jackson Geroge of Australia, in a bid to win a bronze, tried to lift 211kg in his 3rd and final attempt but failed. This meant that Lovepreet stayed at the third spot and won the bronze medal.
Well, the wait is not a lot as Tulika will again be in action against Scotland's Sarah Adlington in the final later tonight.
(Inputs PTI)
