Day-3 roundup – Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli hit Gold, India climb to sixth in medal table

Birmingham: Mizoram teenager Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Kolkata's Achinta Sheuli maintained country's dominance in the weightlifting arena pushing India to top six on the medal table on day three of the Commonwealth Games, here Sunday.

Making his debut at a multi-discipline Games at the senior level, the 19-year-old reigning Youth Olympic champion battled excruciating muscle cramps but shattered two records en route the gold medal in the men's 67kg category.

This was India's second gold at CWG after Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu bagged the first gold medal for India on Saturday.

Weightlifter Achinta Sheuli (73kg) from Kolkata lived up to his top billing as he clinched India's third gold in the Commonwealth Games here.

Favourite to win the event, debutant Sheuli heaved 313kg (143kg+170kg) to grab the gold at NEC Hall here on Sunday.

The Manpreet Singh-led Indian men's hockey team also kicked off their campaign on a rousing note, thrashing Ghana 11-0 in a pool B match.

India also resumed their rivalry against Pakistan on the cricketing field with a facile eight-wicket win in a rain-curtailed women's T20 contest at Edgbaston.

In boxing, world champion Nikhat Zareen stormed into quarterfinals, while there was disappointment in store for Shiva Thapa who crashed out in the round of 16.

India also remained in medal contention in table tennis, squash and lawn balls entering into their respective quarterfinals.

There was however disappointment in store in triathlon, as the quartet of Adarsh Muralidharan Nair Sinimol, Pragnya Mohan, Vishwanath Yadav and Sanjana Sunil Joshi clocked a total time of 1:31:43 to finish 10th among 12 teams.

In cycling too, Ronaldo Laitonjam lost out in pre-quarterfinals of men's sprint event, while Indian gymnasts Yogeshwar Singh and Ruthuja Nataraj signed off at 15th and 17th spots in the men's and women's all-around artistic gymnastics finals respectively.

Achinta Sheuli wins third Gold for India

Favourite to win the event, debutant Achinta Sheuli heaved 313kg (143kg+170kg) to grab the gold at NEC Hall.

Malaysia's Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who gave Sheuli a tough competition, ended as the second best lifter in the event. He had a best effort of 303kg (138kg+165kg).

Canada's Shad Darsigny was third with a total lift of 298kg (135kg+163kg).

"I'm very happy about this, I've worked hard for this medal. A lot of sacrifices of my brother, mother, my coach and the Army have gone into this medal," Sheuli said after the win.

"This was the first major event in my life and I'm thankful for them to help me reach here. This medal will help me in every aspect of life. There should not be looking back from now on."

Asked to whom he would dedicate his gold medal, Sheuli said, "I wish to dedicate this medal to my late dad (who died of heart attack), my brother and my coach Vjay Sharma who slaps me if I do a mistake, keeps scolding me like I'm his own child."

Sheuli, a junior world championship silver medallist, executed three clean lifts -- 137kg, 140kg and 143kg -- in the snatch section.

His 143kg effort helped him smash the Games record and improve his personal best.

Heading into clean an jerk with a five kilogram advantage, the Kolkata lifter started with a 166kg lift, which he hoisted easily.

Sheuli then faltered his 170kg attempt only to heave the weight in the third attempt and create a new Games record in total lift (313kg).

The Indian lifter had to wait patiently towards the end to find out what medal he'd take home as the Malaysian attempted a 176kg lift in his last two attempts only to fail.

'Golden boy' Jeremy

On a day Popy Hazarika (women's 59kg) became the first of the six weightlifters who failed to win a medal after a forgettable seventh place finish, Army teenager Jeremy stamped his class.

Overcoming cramps, Jeremy first bettered the Games snatch mark with a successful 140kg attempt and then lifted 160kg in clean and jerk to take his aggregate to 300kg, which is a new CWG record.

A massive 7kg difference from his nearest rival Samoa's Vaipava Ioane (127kg +166kg) summed up the dominance of the 19-year-old, who first made headlines by winning a historic gold at the Youth Olympics in 2018.

Nigeria's Edidiong Umoafia took bronze with an effort of 290kg (130kg+160kg) "I completely blanked out and was clueless what was going around me. I was like blind and cried a lot (after the failed attempt)," Jeremy said after winning the gold.

"I never followed the other lifts, it was so painful. Crying out aloud, I asked the coach 'medal aya ke nahin?' (Did I get a medal?) coach sir told me 'gold hai hamara' ('you have won the gold) and it soothed my nerves.

"This medal is dedicated to my fellow countrymen and soldiers who fight at the borders. This is my way of serving the country," Jeremy said, as he saluted the National Flag while the Tricolour went up during the prize ceremony.

Manpreet and Co thrash Ghana

In search of an elusive gold, the Indian men's hockey team, which has won two silver medals (2010 and 2014), dished out an emphatic show to rout minnows Ghana 11-0 in a lopsided contest.

Showcasing exceptional teamwork, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists displayed fluid gameplay and a total of eight Indian players scored goals including a hattrick by star drag-flicker and India's vice-captain Harmanpreet.

For India, Abhishek, Harmanpreet, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Jugraj Singh, Neelkant Sharma, Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh scored goals.

Smriti 63 not out leads Pakistan rout

Indo-Pak cricket affair turned out to be a no contest as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side picked up its first win of CWG with a ruthless win.

Pakistan's decision to bat first backfired as India bowled them out for a meagre 99 in the 18 overs-a-side contest after rain delayed the start of play.

In reply, Smriti Mandhana (63 not out off 42 balls), led the chase as India gunned down the target in just 11.4 overs.

Mixed luck in boxing ring

In the boxing ring, world champion Zareen sailed into the last eight of women's 50kg, but it was curtains for Shiva Thapa as he crashed out of the men's 63.5kg.

Zareen knocked out Helena Ismael Bagao of Mozambique winning by RSC (Referee stopping the contest).

Former World Championship bronze medalist Thapa on the other hand lost 1-4 to Scotland's Reese Lynch.

Holders India sail into last-four in TT

In table tennis, defending champions India stormed into the semi-finals of the men's table tennis team event after thrashing Bangladesh 3-0 in the third last-eight tie here on Sunday.

The men's team, led by Achanta Sharath Kamal, had outclassed Barbados, Singapore and Northern Ireland by identical 3-0 margins in the group stage to make the quarter-finals.

Chinappa on course for elusive gold in squash

Ace Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa outplayed New Zealand's Kaitlyn Watts 3-1 to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals in her bid for an elusive gold.

The 18-time national champion kept her calm to recover from a mid-game slump to prevail 11-8 9-11 11-4 11-6 against Watts to set up a last-eight clash with Canada's Hollie Naughton.

Nataraj shines in pool yet again

At the faraway Sandwell Aquatics Centre, Srihari Natraj came back less than 24 hours after swimming the 100m backstroke final to make the semifinals in 50m backstroke The 21-year-old Indian from Bengaluru was the second fastest swimmer in his heat and eighth fastest overall as he clocked 25.52 seconds to advance.

India's medal tally at CWG

India now have six medals, all coming from the weightlifting arena at the National Exhibition Centre with Mirabai Chanu (Gold), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Gold), Achinta Sheuli (Gold), Sanket Sargar (silver), Bidyarani Devi (silver) and Gururaj Poojary (bronze) also earning podium finishes on Saturday.