India had a fruitful Day 2 in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, with the weightlifters stealing the limelight after winning four medals in Birmingham on Saturday, July 30. It was a moment of pride as Mirabai Chanu (gold), Sanket Sargar, Bindyarani Devi (silver), and Gururaja Poojary (bronze) kicked off India's medal tally at the ongoing Games.
But given that the country participated in many different events on Day 2, we recap the performance in the other disciplines that India participated in on Saturday night-Sunday morning.
Badminton
Already through to the quarterfinals, defending champions India continued their rampaging run as they beat Australia in their final group A match of the mixed team competition, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Australians. After blanking Pakistan 5-0 on the first day, India were the better team on display as they outclassed Sri Lanka 5-0 first and then beat Australia to top the group on way to the quarterfinals.
World championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth started the proceedings for India against Australia, beating Lin Xiang Ying 21-14, 21-13 in a lop-sided contest. And then, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu trounced Chen Wendy Hsuan-Yu 21-10 21-12 to hand India a 2-0 lead. In the first doubles clash of the tie, Sumeeth and Chirag defeated Tran Hoang Pham and Jack Yu 21-16 21-19 to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Hockey
Vandana Katariya scored a brace as the Indian women's hockey team defeated Wales 3-1 to record their second successive win in Pool A. India scored all three goals from penalty corners with Vandana finding the net twice, while Gurjit Kaur fired in a fierce drag-flick on Saturday. The women's hockey team will now play hosts England on August 2 in their next fixture.
Boxing
Indian boxer and Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (70kg) cruised to the quarterfinals of the women's light middle-weight category with an easy 5-0 win against Ariana Nicholson. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), a bronze medallist in the last CWG in 2018, defeated South Africa's young Amzolele Dyeyi with the same margin in the men's featherweight (57kg) category to move to the pre-quarterfinals.
But heavyweight boxer Sanjeet (92kg) will be disappointed after losing to Somoa's Ato Leau Plodzicki-Faoagali via a split verdict, here. Being defensive in the last two rounds cost reigning Asian Champion Sanjeet dearly as Faoagali came from behind to take the fixture 3-2 on Saturday.
Swimming
Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj finished seventh in the men's 100m backstrokes in a tough field. Chasing an elusive medal in the able-bodied CWG swimming events, the 21-year-old was fifth in the 50m split but was pushed further back in the tough first lane to finish with a timing of 54.31s on Saturday. Nataraj had qualified for the final with a time of 54.55 seconds which was seventh overall.
Table Tennis
Defending champions India, led by star paddler Manika Batra, crashed out of the women's table tennis team event in the Commonwealth Games after losing to Malaysia 3-2 in the quarterfinals. After recording an easy win in a group stages earlier in the day, the team lost to Malaysia in the last-eight stage. Batra won one singles match and lost the other as the Indian team made a pre-mature exit from the tournament.
