The key highlights of India’s excellent day at the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Wednesday included a record bronze medal in squash singles, a silver medal in judo, two bronze medals in weightlifting, and a bronze medal for Tejaswin Shankar.

Saurav Ghosal, an ace Indian squash player, made history by capturing the first-ever Commonwealth Games singles medal, while Tulika Maan won the only silver medal of the day in judo. The final title on Day 6 came from a man who wasn’t even sure whether he’d be contesting at the Games until just a few days ago when Tejaswin watched the opening ceremony from his home owing to visa issues.

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One silver and four bronze medals from Day 6 brought India’s total at Birmingham to 18 medals — five gold, six silver, and seven bronze.

Tejaswin Shankar launched the Indian athletics team’s medal tally at the Commonwealth Games with a bronze in the men’s high jump event.

Shankar, the national record holder, finished third in the event. The 23-year-old was added to the roster at the last minute by the Delhi High Court and has a season’s best of 2.27m and a personal best of 2.29m.

New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr won gold, while Australia’s Brandon Starc took silver. Both cleared 2.25m but were unable to soar above 2.28m, giving the gold medal to the Kiwi.

Tulika Maan of India gave it her all but fell short in the gold medal match against Scotland’s Sarah Adlington to take silver in the women’s 78kg division event.

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Tulika, who had won two fights earlier in the day to reach the final, led for the duration of the contest before Adlington won with a decisive move, an Ippon. Deepak Deswal, the only other Indian, lost to Fiji’s Tevita Takawaya in the men’s 100kg repechage event.

Saurav Ghosal, an ace Indian squash player, won bronze in men’s singles after defeating England’s James Willstrop 11-6, 11-1, 11-4.

With this victory, the 35-year-old earned his first Commonwealth Games (CWG) medal in the singles category, as well as India’s first squash singles medal at the event.

Meanwhile, Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu advanced to the pre-quarterfinals in mixed doubles. The veteran duo defeated Yeheni Kuruppu and Ravindu Laksiri of Sri Lanka 8-11, 11-4, 11-3.

Sunayna Kuruvilla won the women’s squash singles plate final earlier in the day, defeating Fung-A-Fat of Guyana 11-7, 13-11, 11-2.

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Indian weightlifters Gurdeep Singh and Lovepreet Singh earned bronze medals in the men’s 109+ kg and men’s 109 kg categories, respectively, to maintain the country’s medal run at the Commonwealth Games.

With Gurdeep’s medal, the Indian weightlifters now have won a total of ten medals in Birmingham, one more than they did in the previous edition on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Gurpreet finished third in his weight group with a total of 390kg (167kg snatch, 223kg clean and jerk), while Lovpreet, 24, finished third with a personal best of 355 kg, including a new national record of 192 kg in clean and jerk. In his previous effort, he had improved from 157kg to 163kg.

Purnima Pandey, on the other hand, came in sixth place in the women’s +87kg event at the Commonwealth Games. Pandey completed two lifts, the minimal minimum required to register a total, for a total of 228kg (103kg+ 125kg) at the NEC.

Renuka Singh, a medium bowler, blasted through Barbados’ top order with a four-wicket haul as India defeated their inferior opponents by 100 runs to go to the Commonwealth Games quarterfinals of women’s T20 cricket.

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Invited to bat, India achieved a competitive 162 for 4 thanks to Jemimah Rodrigues’ unbeaten half-century (56 not out off 46 balls) and opener Shafali Verma’s 26-ball 43.

The Indians then reduced Barbados to 62 for 8 in 20 overs, with Renuka impressing with an outstanding performance. Harmanpreet Kaur, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh, and Radha Yadav all had one wicket each.

Kyshona Knight led Barbados in scoring with 16, while Shakera Selman added 12. Seven of their hitters did not reach double digits.

India finished second in Group A with four points from two wins, trailing Australia (6 points from three matches). They had previously defeated Pakistan and lost to Australia. The semifinals will be held on Saturday.

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After dramatic victory in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday, three Indian pugilists, including Nikhat Zareen, advanced to the semi-finals in their respective events.

However, Lovlina Borgohain of India was defeated 3-2 by Rosie Eccles of Wales in the women’s over 66kg-70kg (light middle) quarterfinals. Zareen (50kg), Nitu Ganghas (48kg), and Mohammed Hussamudin (57kg) all won to give India three boxing medals.

Zareen defeated Helen Jones of Wales in the light flyweight quarterfinals with a 5-0 unanimous decision. Hussamuddin defeated Namibian Tryagain Morning Ndevelo in a 4-1 split decision to proceed to the men’s 57kg semifinals and win his second successive CWG medal.

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Earlier in the day, Nitu ignited the proceedings by destroying Northern Ireland’s Nicole Clyde in the women’s 48kg division, ensuring India’s maiden boxing medal at the present Games.

The Indian women’s team defeated lower-ranked Canada 3-2 in a must-win Pool A match to advance to the semi-finals, while Harmanpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh each scored a brace as the Indian men’s team defeated Canada 8-0 to win Pool B at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Salima Tete (3rd minute), Navneet Kaur (22nd), and Lalremsiami (51st minute) scored for the Indian women’s squad. Brienne Stairs (23rd) and Hannah Haughn (39th) both scored for Canada.

Harmanpreet (7th, 54th minute) converted two penalty corners in the men’s game, while Akashdeep Singh (38th, 60th) scored two excellent field goals. India’s other goal scorers were Amit Rohidas (10th), Lalit Upadhyay (20th), Gurjant Singh (27th), and Mandeep Singh (58th).

With the victory, India moved ahead of England at the top of the pool. On Thursday, the Indian men meet Wales in their last group match.