India’s punchline

However, there was heartbreak for Som Bahadur Pun in the final of 57kg category when he was outclassed by Hyder Ali of Pakistan by a huge 10-28 margin. The much-hyped India-Pakistan clash in the 57kg category was a one-sided affair as Hyder Ali used his better reach and reflexes to smother the diminutive Som Bahadur Pun.

Hyder Ali dominated right from start and kept increasing his lead after every round. Having taken a comfortable 22-10 lead after the third round, all that the Pakistani did in the last round was to avoid Pun who even invited his opponent once to come nearer and box.

Shailja’s triple gold

Weightlifter Shailja Pujari won all the three sections of the women’s upto 75 kg category. Shailja lifted 97.5kg in snatch and 125kg in clean and jerk for a total of 222.5kg to become the third Indian woman to make a clean sweep of the three gold medals in a weightlifting event at this Games.

Earlier, N Kunjarani Devi (48kg) and Sanamacha Chanu (53kg) had won all the three gold medals in their respective weight categories. Shailja’s three gold medals brough India’s haul in the weighlifting event to an impressive 13 gold, 12 silver and eight bronze medals.

Rana’s fourth

Earlier, pistol king Jaspal Rana picked his fourth gold medal with a record-shattering score as Indian shooters continued their golden run on the penultimate day.

The 25-year-old Rana gave another stunning display of marksmanship to accumulate 583 points to re-write the Games record in the men’s 25m centre fire pistol event and boost India’s shooting tally to 12 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals.

Rana, who was far from impressive in the recent World Shooting Championship in Lahti (finland), has made amends in these games with a consistent show to provide the bulk of the golds in the Indian medal chest. Anjali (Ved Pathak) Bhagwat was the other star performer securing four gold medals.

Barring Rana, the other Indian shooters in the fray today failed to make much of an impact with Mahaveer Singh, Kuheli Gangulee and Meena Kumari failing to make it to the medal podium by a long way.

Displaying superb skill and concentration, Rana shot 290 points in precision and 293 in rapid to prevail over his fancied Australian opponent Bruce Quick (579).

Mahaveer Singh seemed totally off colour as he took the 10th position in the event with a score of 570. He scored 287 in precision and 283 in rapid.

In the women’s 50m rifle prone event, the two Indian markswomen Meena Kumari and Kuheli Gangulee were a trifle disappointing.

Meena Kumari took the 16th place with a total of 575 points while Kuheli Gangulee fared even more badly by finishing 22nd with a score of 565.

The gold medal in the event went to Australia’s Kim Frazer who accumulated 588 points while South Africa’s Esmari Vanreenen had to be content with the silver despite managing an identical score. Juliet Etherington of New Zealand took home the bronze medal with with 585 points.

Meanwhile, the Indian wrestlers assured themselves of at least two silver medals by moving into the finals of the 66 kg and 84 kg categories. In the 66 kg category semi-final, Ramesh Kumar prevailed over Nigeria’s Fred Jessey to set up a title clash with Canada’s Neal Ewers who beat Ricardo Aryan of New Zealand.