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As it happened - Commonwealth Games 2018: Day 7

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Om Mitharval shoots second medal, bags 50m pistol bronze

NEW DELHI: India’s shooters have continued to carry the country’s flag high, with one gold medal and two bronzes increasing the overall medal tally to 24 during day seven of the 2018 Commonwealth Games . Topping the list of winners was the 2014 Glasgow Games silver medalist Shreyasi Singh, who upgrading her colour to gold by winning the women’s double trap final.Om Mitharval won his second bronze of the Gold Coast Games, finishing third in the 50m pistol men’s finals, before India’s top ranked double trap shooter Ankur Mittal also claimed bronze in the double trap men’s finals. Shreyasi’s medal has taken India’s overall gold tally at the CWG to 12, and with five-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist MC Mary Kom today progressing to the final of the women’s 45-48kg boxing event, more can be expected.The first medal for the country on Wednesday came from the Belmont Shooting Centre, where Mitharval became India’s second double-medalist of the Gold Coast Games after Heena Sidhu yesterday, shooting a total score of 201.1 to finish third in the 50m pistol men’s finals. Mitharval - a bronze winner in the men’s 10m air pistol two days ago - topped the qualification round and put in a very good performance in the 10-man finals, even as defending champion Jitu Rai - who won a gold medal on Monday - shot a disappointing 105 to finish last.A couple hours later, 26-year-old Shreyas dominated a very strong 10-member field to earn gold with rounds of 24, 25, 22 and 25 for a cumulative score of 96 before she edged Australia’s Emma Cox in the shoot-off to upgrade her Glasgow silver to gold. India very nearly got a bronze in the women’s double trap too, with CWG debutant Varsha Varshan finishing one point behind the eventual third placed contestant.Leading the way for India’s very strong boxing contingent was Mary Kom, who breezed into her final later this week. Making her CWG debut at the age of 35, the reigning Asian champion beat Sri Lanka’s Anusha Dilrukhshi 5-0.Also progressing in boxing were Gaurav Solanki, who defeated Papua New Guinea’s Charles Keama by a unanimous 5-0 verdict in the men’s 52kg quarter-final, and Vikas Krishan by the same margin in his 75kg quarter-final versus Zambia’s Benny Muziyo. Later in the day, Manish Kaushik also entered semi-finals after beating Calum French of England 5-0 in the men's 60kg category.However, 2014 CWG silver medalist Sarita Devi was eliminated from her women’s 65kg quarter-final after losing to Australia’s Anja Stridsman 0-5, and 2014 bronze medal-winner Pinki Singh lost the 51kg quarter-final where an extremely close split decision went against her.Elsewhere, Saina Nehwal got the badminton events underway with a crushing 21-3, 21-1 win over South Africa's Elsie de Villiers in the women's singles round of 32. Next up, World No 2 Kidambi Srikanth brushed aside Mauritius’ Aatish Lubah 21-13, 21-10 to enter the round of 16. Making her first appearance at the Games, PV Sindhu dispatched of Fiji’s Andra Whiteside 21-6, 21-3. Ruthvika Gadde followed with a 21-5, 21-7 win over Ghana’s Grace Apitaka, as did HS Prannoy who beat Christopher Jean Paul of Mauritius 21-14, 21-6.In the badminton mixed doubles event, the pairs of Satwik Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa and Pranaav Chopra/Sikki Reddy registered comfortable victories in their respective round of 32 matches. Rankireddy and Ponnappa beat Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh of England 21-17, 21-16, while Chopra and Reddy defeated Burty Molia and Karyn Gibson of Fiji 21-8, 21-9.India men's hockey team, who has already booked its slot in the semi-finals, registered a thrilling 4-3 victory over England in its final group match and topped Pool B with 10 points. India went into half-time break trailing 0-1 and at one point, with just four minutes left in the game, they were behind again at 2-3. But the silver-medalists from Glasgow scored two goals in final two minutes and avoided Australia in the semis.In the squash men’s doubles, the pair of Vikram Malhotra and Ramit Tandon won 2-1 over Wales’ Peter Creed and Joel Makin while the women’s doubles pair of Joshna Chinnappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik defeated the Welsh duo of Tesni Evans and Deon Saffery 2-1 in Pool C. Later in the day, Joshna and Dipika beat Malta's Dianne Kelas and Colette Sultana 2-0. Joshna then paired with Harinder Pal Sandhu to beat Lisa Aitken and Kevin Moran of Scotland 11-10, 11-8 in mixed doubles pool H match.From the women's singles table tennis round of 32, India's Madhurika Patkar beat T&T's Rheann Chung 4-1 to enter the pre-quarters. In the women’s doubles round of 32, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe defeated Mauritius’ Ruqayyah Kinoo and Sanjana Alex Ramaswamy 3-0, after which Achanta Sharath and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran blanked Kiribati’s Tauramoa Miita and Nooa Takooa 3-0 in the men’s doubles round of 32. In the men’s doubles round of 32, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty defeated their Guyanese opponents 3-0 before Desai teamed up with Sahasrabudhe in the mixed doubles round of 32 match and lost 1-3 to Malaysia. Sharath and Mouma Das won their mixed doubles fixture 3-1.Manika Batra, who led the TT women's team to India's first gold medal at the CWG on Sunday, then paired Sathiyan to claim a 3-0 win over Malaysia in the mixed doubles. Adding another tick in the W column was the mixed doubles partnership of Shetty and Patkar, who blanked their Sri Lanka opponents 3-0.In men's singles TT round of 32 contest, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran progressed to the next round after registering contrasting victories. Kamal beat Javen Choong of Malaysia 4-3 in a seven-game thriller, while Gnanasekaran made a short work of Pakistan's Muhammad Rameez, winning the contest 3-0.In athletics, Tejaswin Shankar finished sixth in men's high jump final after registering the best jump of 2.24m. In the women's 400m final, Hima Das bettered her personal best time to 51.32sec but it was not enough to earn her a medal as she finished sixth.In lawn bowls, Krishna Xalxo lost 0-21 in the men’s singles round 5 and the women’s pairs team was beaten 17-19 by South Africa in round 4. In the TT6-10 (women’s singles) event, Maitrayee Sarkar won 3-0 and Vaishnavi Sutar lost 0-3.