Shushila Devi Wins Silver In Judo, India Assured Of A Historic First-Ever Commonwealth Games Medal In Lawn Bowls

New Delhi, Monday, Aug 02, 2022: Shushila Devi Likmabam picked up her second career Commonwealth Games (CWG) silver in the Women’s 48kg division in Judo, even as India got the taste of yet another slice of sporting history on Day Four of the Birmingham 2022 CWG. Their Women’s Fours Lawn Bowls team comprising Lovely Choubey, Pinky, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey assured themselves of a first ever medal in the discipline at the Games, by storming through to the gold medal match against South Africa on Tuesday, beating New Zealand 16-13 in the semi-finals.

Besides Sushila, Vijay Kumar also won a bronze in the Men’s 60kg division to give India a second medal in Judo on the day. These were India’s first medals outside the six medals in Weightlifting that they have won so far at the Birmingham 2022 CWG, including three gold.

With three gold, three silver and two bronze, India is currently placed sixth on the medal tally.

Shushila’s feat

Shushila Devi, who has won silver in the same 48kg division eight years ago at the Glasgow Games, did an encore in Birmingham, this time going down to South African Michaela Whitebooi in the final.

Michaela effected a Waza-ari in the Golden Score round to seal the contest after both fighters had picked up two penalties in regulation time. It was otherwise a cagey affair with both finalists conservative in their approach.

In the other medal in Judo, Vijay Kumar got a second life after going down to Australian Joshua Katz in his second bout, but took advantage of the repechage rounds to get a shot at bronze against Cyprus’ Petros Christodoulides. He needed no second invitation, demolishing the Cypriot 10-0 in the bronze medal match.

History in Lawn Bowls

Lovely Choubey, Pinky, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey had begun their competition on the backfoot, after losing to England 9-18 in their first Sectional game on Saturday. They then turned it around admirably, beating Cook Islands 15-9 in the second and Canada 17-7 in the third, to make it to the knock-outs.

Late on Sunday, they beat Norfolk Islands 17-9 in the quarters to earn the right to play the Kiwis in the semis on Day Four and edged them out in a tight contest to keep their date with history.

Medal assured in Badminton Mixed Team

The Indian badminton Mixed Team unit comprising the likes of P.V.Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, Lakshay Sen and Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy also assured themselves of a medal after storming through to the finals with a 3-0 sweep of Singapore in the semi-finals.

The doubles duo of Chirag and Satwik began the rout, with Sindhu making it 2-0 before Lakshay Sen swapmed world champion Loh Kean Yew in straight games.

Good result in Men’s Hockey, Ghosal through to semis

In the day’s other good news, the Indian Men’s Hockey team came away with a good 4-4 result against hosts England, thereby looking good to avoid title favourites Australia in the semi-finals. They had pumped in 11 without return in their first game against Ghana and now lead the group.

India began the big game with a bang, netting thrice in the first 22 minutes through Lalit Upadhyay (2’), Mandeep (13’) and Akashdeep Singh (22’).

England however scripted a brilliant comeback in the second half of the game with Liam Ansel getting one back in the 42nd minute. Although Harmanpreet scored India’s fourth soon after, strikes from Philip Roper (50’) in between two from Bandurak (47’, 53’) saw England draw level.

India had to play most of the last few minutes of the game with 10-men in face of a relentless onslaught by England, but held on gamely for a result they will take.

In Squash, the seasoned pro Saurav Ghosal, made it through to the Men’s Singles semi-finals with a classy victory in four games over Scot Greg Lobban in the quarter finals. Ghosal soldiered on with a favourable 11-5, 8-11, 11-7 and 11-3 result.

Two more boxers in quarters

After Sagar had made it through late on Sunday in the Men’s 92kg Super Heavyweight category, two more boxers made it through to the quarterfinals on Day Four, Sunday. Amit Phangal first, in the 48-51kg Flyweight category and then Md. Husamuddin in the 54-57kf Featherweight category pulled off similar dominating 5-0 victories over their opponents on points.

Amit lorded over Namri Berri of Vanuatu while Husamuddin beat Bangladesh’s Md. Salim Hossain for a place in the last eight.

Other results

In the day’s other results, Joshna Chinappa exited the Women’s Singles after going down to lower ranked Hollie Naughton of Canada in the quarter-finals. Ajay Singh in the Men’s 81kg in Weightlifting also finished fourth, missing out on a medal by just one kilogram.

Also, through to the Women’s Plate semi-finals was Sunayna Kuruvilla after she beat Sri Lankan Chanithma Sinaly 3-0 in the Plate quarter-finals