Commonwealth Games 2022

The Savita Punia-led India team fought valiantly in the semifinal in the regulation time which ended in 1-1 but missed out on converting their attempts in the shootout. Ambrosia Malone, Amy Lawton and Kaitlin Nobbs scored goals for Australia in the shootout. Rebecca Greiner (10th min) scored the solitary goal for Australia while Vandana Katariya (49th) was the lone scorer from the Indian side. The Australian team started the game with the intent to put early pressure while the Indians kept their calm as they looked to create opportunities early on.

Deepak Punia won the bout 3-0 on points to claim his first gold medal in Commonwealth Games. It was a bout between wrestlers from arch-rivals India and Pakistan but it did not live up to that hype as Punia imposed himself on his opponent early and did not give him many chances. Scoring chances were few as the Pakistani wrestler was totally defensive and his movements too were a bit restricted. He had his left leg strapped at the knee and looked to keep it away from any attack.

Anshu Malik lost in the final while Mohit Grewal and Divya Kakran bagged a bronze each as India came off the wrestling mat on Friday with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. This took India's tally to 9 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze medals for a total of 26 medals so far in Birmingham. In lawn bowls, the Indian Men's Fours set themselves to emulate their woman counterparts as they reached the final, beating England 13-12 in the semifinal and set up themselves for a summit clash.

Sakshi, who seemed to have gone off the boil after her success in the Rio Olympics, missing some events and got upstages by younger opponents, made a brilliant comeback both in her bout on Friday and her career as she stomped her authority. Her opponent, who had come to Canada from Mexico at a very young age with her family seeking political asylum, is strong grappler having won medals in World Championships

Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Punia, who won gold medal four years ago in Gold Coast, came out with aggressive intentions and did not allow his young Canadian opponent much chances, forcing two takedowns in the first period itself to go 4-0 up. The Canadian was a bit too defensive in the first period but launched a good attack at the start of the second period to reduce the margin to 2-4.

On Thursday, Sreeshankar claimed a historic maiden silver medal, in slightly chilly and windy conditions, for an Indian long jumper in the Commonwealth Games bettering the bronze medal that Suresh Babu had bagged in 1978 at Edmonton, Canada. It was also the biggest medal of Sreeshankar's career that redeemed him and made for all the setbacks he has suffered in recent times.

The Indian men secured their place in the semifinals with a comprehensive 4-1 victory against Wales on Thursday which helped them top the standings as England finished with the same 10 points but with an inferior goal difference. England, needing to beat Canada by a 14-goal margin to top Pool B, could manage an 11-2 win, thus finishing second.

Sudhir, who is ranked third in the world in World Para Powerlifting's Official World Rankings for 2022 with the best lift of 214kg, came up with a top lift of 212kg to win the gold medal with a Commonwealth Games record. This was India's first medal in the para-sports in Birmingham 2022 and the country's eighth gold medal and 22nd overall. India has a tally of 8 gold, seven silver, and seven bronze.

The victory means the hosts will take on India in the semifinal, while the other last-four clash pits Australia against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand. The pair of Brunt and Wong rattled the top three of Sophie Devine (1), Amelia Kerr (3) and Suzie Bates (6) to have the White Ferns 12/3 and unable to climb out of the poor start.

All eyes at the squash court were on the seasoned mixed doubles combine of Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal after the latter bagged his first singles medal in the Commonwealth Games -- a bronze. Dipika is playing her first Commonwealth Games less than a year after giving birth to twin boys. The pair had won the mixed doubles title in the World Doubles in Glasgow where Dipika partnered Joshna Chinappa to the women's doubles title in April this year. On Thursday, Dipika and Saurav got the better of Emily Whitlock and Peter Creed of Wales, winning 2-0 (11-8, 11-4) in the rather one-sided encounter.