Abhinav Bindra, the country's Lone Olympic gold winner led from the front, to win India's first gold medal in the 19th Commonwealth games. The Indian shooters were in awesome form as they bagged 2 gold medals and one silver medal on the second of the competition.Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang won gold in the 10 metre air rifle pair’s event setting a new meet record. Anisha Sayyed and Rahi Sarnobat also won pairs 25 meter pistol women final. Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh brought silver in the 50 metre pistol pairs event. Bindra expressed satisfaction over the achievement. AIR correspondent takes a look at the shooter's performance this morning.Team India' coach Sunny Thomas joined the celebrations. In wrestling, India has been assured of three medals. Ravinder Singh beat Joseph of Nigeria in the Greco Roman Style in 69 kg category. Anil kumar in the 96 kg and Sanjay in 74 Kg category joined the medal hunt. In the first match in boxing, India's Amandeep Singh made a winning start in the 49 kg light flight category as he brushed aside his opponent. In tennis, India's top player Som Devdevvarman outclassed Devin Mullings from Bahamas 6-4 6-2 in the first round. There was good news for the hosts from the pool, as para sport swimmers Kiran Tak and Anjani Patel progressed to the semi-finals. Virdhawal Khade qualified for the 50 meters butterfly semi-finals. But in other swimming events, the Indians proved out to be a big disappointment. In men's hockey, Pakistan, looked far from impressive but still carried enough firepower to down Scotland 3-0 in a pool A match. Leading 2-0 at half-time, Pakistan scored through Shakeel Abbasi, Rehan Butt and Muhammad Imran.India begins its campaign in Men's hockey team as they take on Malayasia in a match this evening. Earlier today, England, the highest ranked team in the women's hockey competition scored a 4-1 win against arch-rivals Wales .In swimming, Cristian Springer from Australia set a new games record in the 100 meters breastroke.16 gold medals remain for grabs today. 5 in swimming, 3 in cycling, 2 in shooting, 2 in weightlifting, 3 in wrestling and one in gymnastics. In the first two days of the Commonwealth Games Australia lead the medal tally with six medals, including 4 Gold medals and 2 Silvers medals . Canada bagged 4 medals including one gold, and 3 bronze. With India winning 2 gold medals , three silver and two bronze, the position of the hosts is expected to go up in the medal Tally . Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games Organising committee chairman Mr. Suresh Kalmadi today announced that school children and the poor would be given free entry to watch the games. Addressing a joint press conference along with President of the Games Federation, Mr. Mike Fennel, Mr. Kalmadi said there is great enthusiasm among the people to witness the events. He said, events are shown all over the commonwealth countries.Denying charges that the price of tickets are high, Mr Kalmadi said, 6 lakh tickets have already been sold for different sports. AIR correspondent reports big crowds including foreigners were seen lining up in front of central bank of India to purchase tickets for watching the sports. To meet the demand for tickets, the organizers have decided to set up stalls outside the venues, where the general public can buy them.Mike Fennel said, messages from different parts of the world continue to pour about the excellent quality of broadcast and telecast of the games. Weightlifters Soniya Chanu and Sandhya Rani who won a silver and a bronze respectively in the women's 48 kg class in the CWG today dedicated their medals to crisis-ridden Manipur. They expressed hope that peace would soon return to the insurgency hit state.
News On AIR | October 5, 2010 1:53 PM
Bindra, Narang shoot 1st gold for India