New Delhi, October 4
Gold medals eluded India as their women and men lifters in 48 kg and 56 kg categories ended with silver-bronze doubles on the opening day of competitions in the 2010 Commonwealth Games here today.

Otherwise it was a mixed day for the home team as its tennis and squash players made impressive starts with swimmers putting up an inspired performance in the five gold medal events decided today. Australia has won four of eight medals on stake today while the remaining four have been shared by South Africa, Canada, Malaysia and Nigeria. Malaysia and Nigeria got it in weightlifting for men (6=56 kg) and women (48), Canada and South Africa got one each in aquatics. Australia won thre gold in aquatics besides the gymastics artistic team championhsip for men.

With two silvers and as many bronze medals, home team appeared somewhat satisfied though it was expecting a dreamy golden start of its campaign in the 11-sporting extravaganza that got off to scintillating start after a glittering opening ceremony on Sunday.

While a debutant Nigerian spoiled Indian women lifters' start with a record smashing performance in the 48 kg category, it was a Malaysian who deprived the home team with a gold medal with his superb and effortless lifting in the 56 kg weight event.

Debutant 18-year-old Augustine Nkem Nwakolo of Nigeria, not only dampened home country's plan of making a golden start in the weightlifting competition by setting all three new Games records but also pushed pre-competition favourites Sonya Chanu Ngangbam and Sandhya Rani Devi Atom to the second and third positions here this afternoon. Augustine Nkem Nwakolo cleared 77 kg in snatch and 98 kg in clean and jerk to romp home a comfortable winner with an aggregate of 175 kg, 10 kg more than the previous record.

Though Sonya Chanu Ngangbam made a gallant attempt in trying to clear 103 in clean and jerk to overtake Augustine Nwakolo's total but it was too much for her. After failing to clear the asked weight in her last two attempts, she had to settle down for a silver, aggregating eight kilogram less than her African conqueror.

Sandhya Rani Devi Atom and Zaira Zakaria of Malaysia had aggregated 165 kg each but since the home girl was lighter by 210 grams than her opponent, she got the bronze.

Augustine Nkem Nwakolo not only set aside all previous Games record held by Indian star Kunjurani and set new records in snatch, clean and jerk and aggregate but also greeted her country's Sports Minister's arrival at the venue of the competition with a gold medal.

In fact, supremacy of Augustine had become apparent in the snatch only as she cleared 77 kg while Sonya CVhanu failed with 76 kg in her last two attempts after starting with a clean lift of 73 kg. Zaura Zarkaria of Malaysia, too, was ahead of Sonya Chanu by clearing 75 kg in her third and last attempt.

Sandhya Rani could not clear 73 kg and her best in snatch was 70 kg that put her at firth position. If she managed to get a bronze it was because of clean and jerk of 95 kg against 94 by Sonya Chanu.

In the men's section, it was Aminul Hamizan Ibrahim of Malaysia who with a snatch of 116 kg and clean and jerk of 141 kg took the gold with an aggregate of 257 kg while India's Suken Dey with a snatch of 112 kg and clean and jerk of 140 kg finished five kilogram behind with an aggregate of 252 kg.

In fact like Sonya, Suken Dey did try to equal, if not overtake his immediate rival's total, but the attempt proved futile, exactly the way it had happened to Sonya Chanu in the morning.

India's second hope in the event VS Rao was a comfortable third with an aggregate of 246 kg, 107 kg in snatch and 141 kg in clean and jerk. For India, both bronze medallists - Sandhya Rani and Rao - cleared higher weights than their silver medal winning team mates.

New Delhi, October 4
Hosts India survived a scare as plucky Scotland not only gave them jitters but also salvaged a valuable point in a pool A match of the women's hockey competition of the 2010 Commonwealth games at historic Major Dhyan Chand national Stadium here this evening.

The 1-1 draw was not the home team hoping for launching its campaign for regaining the gold medal it had won in Manchester Games (2002) but lost to Australia in the 2006 edition at Melbourne.

Earlier in other games, all in women's section, Black Sticks - New Zealand - blasted wales 5-1 while South Africans girls went on a scoring spree to notch up an impressive 12-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago. In the third game, Malaysia just managed to nose out Canada 3-2 in a cliff hanger.

The match of the day was, however, between India and Scotland. Fresh from its ninth position in the last World Cup, the home team was expected to romp home comfortable winners.

"The way Indian team struggled to get the equaliser in the second half after conceding the early lead was disturbing," commented Olympian and former national coach Vasudevan Bhaskaran.

"When those who are expected to run and administer the game are caught in their own squabbles how they can expect a team left on its own to give its best," rued Bhaskaran blaming the mismanagement for India's unimpressive start.

Realising that India was a strong side, Scotland chose to play four defenders besides resorting to tight marking giving India's scoring machine Ritu Rani and skipper Surinder Kaur little movement for manoeuvring their moves.

In the third minute when the Scotland took the lead, it baffled the home team. It was Holy Cram, who made full use of a slight defence lapse to get the target from the middle of the circle. Pint-sized Vikki Bunce not only had the Indian defence on its toes with her superb stick work and ball control but also created openings with her defence splitting passes.

After a listless first half in which India wasted a penalty corner, the home team swarmed all over its opponents territory for most of the time in the second half. Though Jasjeet Kaur Handa got them the much needed equaliser in the 46th minute with a top of circle reverse flick, others who tried to copy her style missed the Scottish goal on more than one occasions. Rani, Ritu Rani and even Jasjeet Handa, herself, missed good scoring chances late in the second half as the European side held its fort till the final whistle to earn a valuable point, thus denying the home team a clear three-point verdict it had been looking for.

New Delhi, October 4
Leander Paes and Sania Mirza took a virtual stroll on the centre court when they steamrolled past Stacey Nykita Roheman and Alberton Richeliu of St. Lucia 6-1,6-0 in the mixed doubles of the tennis event in the 19th Commonwealth Games at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association here tonight. Leander and Sania were teaming up for the first time after their gold-winning performance in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, but they looked perfectly at ease as they quietly moved past the African pair in 39 minutes. The only concession the second-seeded Indian pair allowed the visitors was when they let Richelie hold serve in the opening game, but that happened before they settled down for nice repast of fun tennis. The only problem, however, they faced was that they had to not only swat the ball across, but also swat down the swarm of insects that invaded the court.

It was a very successful day for the Indian team in tennis as they notched up three wins out of four matches. Rohan Bopanna and Rushmi Chakravarti won their men's and women's singles before Rohan and Nirupama Vaidyanathan lost in the mixed doubles in the morning. And in the evening, Poojashree Venkatesh was ruthless as she demolished N Eunisia Noosa of Lesotha 6-0,6-0 in 34 minutes flat. Rohan and Rushmi had comfortable wins in the singles, but Rohan and Nirumapa later made a first-round exit in the mixed doubles.

Bopanna had eased to a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Buyinza Robert of Uganda in a first round men's match, though the African player did not allow the Indian to have a virtual cake-walk, making him sweat in the second set, before bowing out. The second set lasted 41 minutes after Bopanna won the first in 20 minutes. The Indian pumped in nine aces while subduing the Ugandan rookie. Robert tried to put up a game fight, and Bopanna committed a few unforced errors to stretch the second set. But there was never any doubt that he would settle the match in two straight sets, as the inexperienced Ugandan had earned his first ATP ranking point only last month. Bopanna also got into the history book as he scored the first victory of Commonwealth Games tennis, which made its debut in Delhi.

Rushmi Chakravarthi made mincemeat of Montlha Pinki Agnes of Lesotha without breaking a sweat 6-0, 6-1 in a women's singles match at an outside court. Rushmi took just 46 minutes to wrap up the tie.

In a noon-match at the R.K.Khanna Centre court, top-seeded Rodionova Anastasia and Hanley Paul of Australia trounced Rohan Bopanna and Nirupama 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 48 minutes. Rohan had a weak partner in the 33-year-old Nirupama whose sluggish court movement and ponderous serves did not help the hosts capitalise on the second set victory, though he was the first Indian woman tennis player to try her hand in the pro circuit. "We had a chance. It's always tough playing the first time", Bopanna said about his experience of teaming up with Nirupama for the first time in the mixed doubles. He also gave full credit to Nirupa for the second set victory.

"Thanks to Nirupama, we came back in the second set. We fought very well, but in the last set, we could not move forward".

The top-sseded Anastasia Rodionava and Paul Hanley were in a league of their own, displaying nimble footwork and solid stroke play, though they became error-prone in the second set to take the battle to the third. Even in the third, they squandered a 4-1 lead to make it a close call at 4-3. In fact, in the first set too, the top-seeded pair became a bit complacent after taking a 5-1 lead, to allow the Indian pair into the match.

Rohan now team up with Somdev Devvarman in the men's doubles.

New Delhi, October 4
Ace shuttlers Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal led from the front as India took less than an hour to inflict a humiliating 5-0 defeat on Kenya in a lopsided match of the preliminary stage of Group D in the badminton mixed team event of the Commonwealth Games at Siri Fort here today.

Chetan started the proceedings for India, streamrolling Victor Odera Munga 21-7 21-13 in 14 minutes in men's singles, while Saina then swelled the lead to 2-0 with a thumping win over Joseph Mercy Mwethya 21-11 21-4 in the women's singles in just 11 minutes. Indian men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas then zoomed past Victor Munga and Patrik Kibet 21-5 21-5 to hand the home team an easy win over the African outfit in 12 minutes.

With the last two matches becoming redundant, Aparna Balan clubbed with Aswini Ponnappa and took another 11 minutes to teach the Kenyans a lesson in badminton during their 21-8 21-6 win over Joseph and Anitah Bushuru in the women's doubles. Mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju then spanked Anna Njambi Ng'ang'a and Frederick Choube 21-8 21-5 in another 11-minute match as India wrapped up a 5-0 win over Kenya in just 59 minutes.

Opening the innings for India, Chetan quickly moved to 2-0 and then soon zoomed to 8-2. Victor was simply no match for the lanky Indian as he pocketed six straight points to move from 11-6 to 17-6 before wrapping it up at 21-7. The next game, Victor tried to make a match but he didn't even come near to posing any threat and was soon sidelined by the smashing Chetan.

"It was an easy match, on expected lines. Hope to reach finals, lets see what happens," he said. Saina, who conceded two game points to Mercy when she was 20-9 before wrapping it up in quick time, also felt that India should ideally reach the finals.

"It was an easy match. There are a little wind in the stadium and the shuttles are a little different then Asian Badminton Championship. Team match is a good way to warm up for the singles. I hope we reach the quarterfinals. Hopefully we will play Canada in quarters and England in Semis," she said. Jwala-Diju also had a field day as they never looked in trouble. — PTI

New Delhi, October 4
The Indian men's squash team got off to a good start at the Commonwealth Games with three players progressing to the second round on the opening day of the singles event at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.

The trio of Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Siddharth Suchde advanced to the round of 32 without much trouble. However, it was curtains for world ranked 365 Sandeep Jangra, who went down fighting to 14th seed Australian Ryan Cuskelly, on court no 4.

In the first game of the day, world ranked 71 Siddharth Suchde made short work of Michael Hopkins from Jersey, registering a facile 11-6 11-5 11-4 victory over his unseeded opponent in just 18 minutes. After an easy outing, where he dominated for a major part of the match, Suchde is now readying himself for a sterner test against formidable 7th seed Australian Cameron Pilley in the second round clash later this evening. "I made good use of my footwork. I made Hopkins run all around the court. I was bit nervous initially as I just want to taste the water before unleashing my assault. We had never played each other," Suchde said after the match.

"Next clash is very tough as Pilley is really a tough nut to crack but I am ready for the challenge," he added. In the second match, Jangra gave a glimpse of his fighting abilities against the 37th ranked Cuskelly.

Though the Indian lost 7-11 9-11 4-11 in 31 minutes, the famed Australian later admitted that he more than once lost his way against the never say die Jangra. Jangra stretched Cuskelly to the limit but could not survive the late onslaught by the Australian. — PTI

Mohali October 4
Sitting pretty at one stage, India frittered away advantage on the penultimate day of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here today.

Indian bowlers did well to skittle Australia for paltry 192 in 60.5 overs. With 23-run first innings deficit, the hosts were set a victory target of 216 runs. But Australian pace bowlers titled the scales when they left the hosts tottering at 55 for 4 at close, still 161 runs short of a win.

The aggressive Australian bowling attack did not allow much breathing space to batsmen. Lanky Ben Hilfenhaus did the damage sending back Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina. He took three for 22 in seven aggressive overs to turn the match decisively in favour of Australia.

Indians were, however, done in early by a seeming goof-up by umpire Billy Bowden, who did not take long to raise the dreaded finger ruling Gambhir out to a Hilfenhaus delivery that pitched outside the off stump and moved in. Television replays showed that the ball got an inside edge before it hit the batsman’s pads.

Dravid then edged an away-going delivery from Doug Bollinger taken behind the stumps when the batsman was batting on 13.

Sehwag, when on 17, played Hilfenhaus straight into the hands of Mike Hussey at gully. The Indians were thrust further into the hole when Raina’s vulnerability facing the short stuff was exposed by Hilfenhaus as a catch resulting from a thick outside edge landed into the safe hands of Marcus North at third slip. Raina failed to open his account.

Sachin Tendulkar looked composed facing the rival seamers and finished unbeaten 10 a close. Keeping his company was Zaheer Khan batting on five.

Earlier in the morning, Ishant Sharma bowled a torrid spell, prizing out the cream of the rival batting as the visitors were reduced from 87 without loss to 96 for three in just two overs. Ishant spell read 3-2-8-3.

He started the slide when Shane Watson played on to an in-coming delivery. Next he had his bunny Ricky Ponting, who could not resist the temptation of playing his favourite pull stroke. He ended up giving a catch to Raina at deep square leg.

Ishant almost had his third victim of the over when he got Michael Clarke to flick a simple catch which Sehwag took at the mid-wicket. The delivery, however, was ruled a no-ball. But Ishant had the last laugh, having him caught behind in his next over.

The Australian wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals. Harbhajan Singh and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha bowled tidy spells accounting for the middle order.

Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who completed a five-wicket haul in the first innings, again proved how wily a customer he was. He flummoxed Nathan Hauritz with a beauty that sent his off-stump for a walk. He signalled the end of the Australian innings when lanky Hilfenhaus was beaten all ends up and bowled with a perfect yorker.

Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings 428
India 1st innings 405
Australia 2nd innings:
Watson b Ishant 56
Katich c Dhoni b Ojha 37
Ponting c Raina b Ishant 4
Clarke c Dhoni b Ishant 4
Hussey lbw b Harbhajan 28
North c sub b Harbhajan 10
Paine c sub b Ojha 9
Johnson c Dhoni b Zaheer 3
Hauritz b Zaheer 9
Hilfenhaus b Zaheer 6
Bollinger not out 5
Extras: (b-12, lb-4, nb-5) 21
Total: (All out, 60.5 overs) 192
Bowling: Zaheer 11.5-1-43-3; Ishant 9-2-34-3; Harbhajan 23-7-40-2; Ojha 17-1-59-2.

India 2nd innings
Gambhir lbw b Hilfenhaus 0
Sehwag c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 17
Dravid c Paine b Bollinger 13
Tendulkar batting 10
Raina c North b Hilfenhaus 0
Zaheer batting 5
Extras (b-4, w-6) 10
Total (for 4 wkts; 17 overs) 55
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 7-2-22-3, Bollinger 4-0-17-1, Johnson 5-1-11-0, Hauritz 1-0-1-0.