Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast: Indians disappoint in para powerlifting

GOLD COAST: India's Farman Basha finished fifth in the men's Lightweight category of the Para Powerlifting competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Australia's Gold Coast on Tuesday.

Basha struggled to get going, failing in two of his three attempts. 

He was never in medal contention, failing to lift 138 kilograms in his first attempt. 

He then had a successful lift of 140kg in his second attempt before failing at 150kg in his final attempt for a total of 169.4 points.

Ashok, the second Indian in the fray, finished last in the field of 11 competitors as he could not manage a single successful attempt.

Nigeria took the top two spots with Roland Ezuruike and Paul Kehinde bagging gold and silver respectively.

England's Ali Jawad got the bronze.

Shooting

In other events, Indian shooters Gagan Narang and Chain Singh entered the final of the men's 50m Rifle Prone event at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Australia's Gold Coast on Tuesday. Gagan Narang finished the qualifying round in the third position with 617 points. Chain was in sixth place, having scored a total of 614.2.

Meanwhile, in the women's category, shooters Annu Singh and Heena Sidhu entered the final of the women's 25-meter Pistol event here on Tuesday. Annu finished the qualification stage at the second spot with a total of 584 points. Heena was third with 579. Xiu Hong Teh of Singapore topped the standings with 584.

Annu had taken pole position at the end of the Precision round with 293. She managed 291 in the Rapid round while Xiu scored 293. Annu registered a series of 96, 99 and 98 in the Precision round. She was consistent in the Rapid round as well as scores of 98, 96 and 97.

Xiu, who was second after the Precision round with 291, registered 96, 100 and 97 in the Rapid stage to snatch the lead. Heena meanwhile, started slowly before climbing up the standings with an awesome show in the Rapid round.

Hockey

India on Tuesday defeated Malaysia 2-1 in a Pool B match of the men's hockey tournament at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Tuesday. Harmanpreet Singh (3rd, 43rd minutes) converted a couple of penalty corner while the experienced Faizal Saari reduced the deficit for Malaysia.

This is India's second consecutive win of their current campaign. They had squandered a 2-0 lead to be held to a last-gasp 2-2 draw by arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening match. The Indians then defeated Wales 4-3 in a high scoring encounter. India now have seven points from three matches.

Squash

India's Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa came from behind to beat Pakistan's Zafar Faiza and Zafar Madina 2-1 in squash women's doubles Pool C match at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday. After going down closely 10-11 in the opening game that lasted for nine minutes, the Indian duo bounced back strongly to thrash the Pakistani pair 11-0 in just four minutes.

Dipika and Joshna then sealed their victory after another 11-1 win in the third game, that lasted for mere five minutes at the Oxenford Studios here. The Indians will next take on Wales' duo of Tesni Evans and Deon Saffery on Wednesday.

(With IANS inputs)