India have touched 20 medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022, and with the competition entering the business end, it will be interesting to see whether the country can add another 20 medals to their names in the final three-four days of the competition. The task seems tough but with seven medals already guaranteed and events like wrestling yet to start and badminton yet to end, the country look set to cross the 40+ medals tally, although matching the 66 medals from Gold Coast seems like a highly unlikely feat.
With this in mind, we look at a roundup of all the athletes who shone on Day 7 of the international multisport event:
Badminton
Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen sailed into the pre-quarterfinals of their respective singles events after recording comfortable victories. Sindhu routed Maldives' Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq 21-4, 21-11 in the women's singles first round, and Srikanth outclassed Daniel Wanagaliya of Uganda 21-9 21-9 in the men's event.
Later in the day, Sen and Akarshi Kashyap joined the senior duo in the round of 16 after notching up contrasting wins in their respective opening men's and women's singles matches. Sen eased to a 21-1, 21-6 win over St Helena's Vernon Smeed, while Kashyap worked hard against Pakistani Mahoor Shahzad, and eventually won after her opponent suffered an injury and retired while trailing 1-8 in the second game.
Lawn Bowls
India's Mridul Borgohain failed to make the men's singles quarterfinals of the lawn bowl event after losing his fifth-round match against Jersey's Ross Davis 13-21. The Indian was 6-5 ahead after the end of round five but then allowed his opponent to make a comeback. Davis then kept surging ahead and eventually won the tie.
Table Tennis
While their compatriots Sreeja Akula, Manika Batra, and Reeth Rishya shone in the women's Table Tennis events, the Indian pair of Sanil Shetty and Reeth Tennison was knocked out of the mixed doubles table tennis event. The duo went down to the Malaysian pair of Wong Qi Shen and Tee Ai Xin – 6-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-8, 8-11 in the round of 64 matches.
Athletics
Star Indian sprinter Hima Das qualified for the women's 200m semifinals after winning her heat with a timing of 23.42s. The 22-year-old led the five-woman field from the start with Zambia's Rhoda Njobvu clocking 23.85s to finish second while Jacent Nyamhunge of Uganda finished third with a timing of 24.07.
There are six heats lined up in the women's 200m and the top 16 will qualify for the semi-final.
Meanwhile, in the women's hammer throw event, India's Manju Bala advanced to the final while compatriot Sarita Singh failed to make the cut. The 33-year-old Bala finished 11th in the qualification round with a best throw of 59.68m in her first attempt. In the same event, the other Indian athlete Sarita failed to make the final after she finished 13th with her best throw of 57.48.
According to the rules, the best 12 performers advance to the final, which will be held on Saturday, August 6.
