Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu stole the limelight by clinching a gold each in weightlifting, as India launched their campaign in the 20th Commonwealth Games with a flourish, winning seven medals in all on the opening day of the competitions in Glasgow, Scotland last night.

In weightlifting, there was a silver medal for S Mirabai Chanu, while Ganaesh Mali bagged a bronze. In the men's 56kg contest, the 25-year-old Dey lifted a total of 248kg after trailing at the halfway snatch stage, but came back strongly in clean and jerk to win the gold, and cap a remarkable day for the Indians at the Clyde Auditorium.

In the women's 48kg weightlifting, Sanjita won with a total lift of 173kg, while Mirabai grabbed the silver with a cumulative effort of 170 kg in the absence of other strong competitors. Mali settled for bronze with a total lift of 244kg.

Meanwhile, Indian judokas produced the country's best-ever performance by bagging three medals last night. Judokas Navjot Chana in the Men's 60kg and Shushila Likmabam in the Women's 48kg had to be content with a silver medal each after they failed to clear the final hurdle in their respective events. There was a bronze for another judoka, Kalpana Thoudam.

The paddlers, shuttlers and squash players had easy outings on the first day, with both badminton and table teams posting convincing wins.

Meanwhile, Australia's female swimmers set a new 4x100m freestyle relay world record of 3min 30:98sec as they retained their Commonwealth Games title in style.

Lifter Sanjita's total of 173kg missed the Games record, held in the name of 2010 CWG gold winner Augustina Nkem Nwaokolo (175kg effort), by two kilograms. Sanjita's 77kg effort in snatch, however, equalled Nwaokolo's CWG record.