CWG 2018, Day 8, as it happened: Wrestlers kick-start medal rush, athletics account opened

07:00 pm: Wrapping up...

Just as it was expected, Thursday turned out to be pretty good for India. Wrestling started, after all. Four wrestlers in action, all four brought home the medals with Sushil taking 80 seconds to win his! The first medals from athletics came from Discus Throw while Tejaswini Sawant surprised most of us with a silver in the women’s 50m rifle prone event. The paddlers and shuttlers had a great day too. However it ended with a defeat for the Indian women in the hockey semi-final - a bit of a disappointment, but great fight shown by Rani Rampal and Co.

On that note, it’s goodbye from all of us. Join us tomorrow, nice and early. Watch out for the schedule, which should be up soon.

06:40 pm: India’s athletics duck was broken in some style. Read the report here.

6.27 pm: And that brings the day to an end. This is what the medal tally looks like. India still in third position but Canada is starting to win a few more medals now.

6.20 pm: Here’s what Former India skipper Viren Rasquinha thought about the women’s Hockey Semi-final.

“This team can step out of the field with their heads held high. I remember two years ago when Australia beat India at Rio Olympics, 6-1. But the improvements this team has made in terms of physical fitness and stick skills is there for all to see, with new coach Harendra Singh.”

6.11 pm: Women’s Hockey Semi-final

FT. India 0-1 Australia.

India got their tactics spot on. They would not have been able to run with the Australian team for the whole match. They saved their energy for the 4th quarter and then launched a spirited attack. They have a couple of very good opportunities too. The goal in the 3rd quarter hurt them no end.

Final: Australia vs New Zealand

Bronze medal playoff: India vs England

Follow live updates on our hockey blog here.

5.56 pm: Major controversy in the men’s 200m race. Hughes, who crossed the line first, was DQed. Here’s why...

5.51 pm: Women’s Hockey Semi-final

India 0-1 Australia. End of 3rd Quarter

India will have to throw caution to the winds now. They don’t have an option now. Australia have been intimidating and India will just have to go for it now.

5.39 pm: Women’s Hockey Semi-final

India 0-1 Australia

India’s resistance has been broken with a magnificent field goal. Grace Stewart (37th minute) gets the breakthrough for Australia. The hosts had piled on the pressure for a while, dominating play and India just didn’t see that coming. The women in blue must do what no other side has done so far at the Games - score against Aussies. But for that they will need to take some risks; risks that could lead to more goals being scored by Australia.

Follow live updates on our hockey blog here.

5.22 pm: Women’s Hockey Semi-final

India 0-0 Australia

HT. Still 0-0. India have defended well and maintained good structure. Australia have attacked well and they have not been able to break through.

Follow live updates on our hockey blog here.

5.11 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

Navjeet Dhillon sneaks onto the podium to get a BRONZE with a final attempt of 57.43 m, pipping New Zealand’s Sositina Hakeai, whose best effort was 57.16! Seema Punia’s final throw is 58.90, which means she will get the SILVER. The gold, of course, goes to the excellent Dani Stevens of Australia, who set a Games record with 68.26. All five of her successful throws were better than Punia’s best effort. Deserved winner!

5.07 pm: Women’s Hockey

Australia and India are playing in the semi-finals of the women’s hockey competition and at the end of the first quarter, no team has been able to break the deadlock. However, Australia have looked the more dangerous out of the two teams. Follow live updates on our hockey blog here.

5.03 pm: Women’s Discus Throw final

Seema Punia fails her fifth attempt, meaning her first throw of 60.41m is still her best. She continues to be in second position behind Dani Stevens. Navjeet Dhillon throws a 54.09 in her fifth attempt and is unable to climb out of fourth position.

4.56 pm: Dani Stevens sets the Commonwealth Games record with a throw of 68.26 m in her fourth attempt! Just give her the gold! Her personal best is 69.64 so don’t go anywhere! Stevens has improved with each of her attempts and there’s no stopping her, it appears.

Meanwhile, Seema Punia continues to be in second, even though she has not been able to better her first attempt. Her fourth attempt was 58.54. Navjeet Dhillon has, however, thrown her best of the final – 56.22 – in her fourth attempt.

4.47 pm: Badminton women’s doubles

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are through to the quarter-finals after beating Singapore’s Ren-Ne Ong and Jia Ying Crystal Wong 21-18, 21-13 in the Round of 16.

4.43 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

Australia’s Dani Stevens just continues to improve with each throw! She’s just recorded a 65.43, which is more than five metres longer than Seema Punia’s best effort so far. The gold is all but confirmed for the Australian. Meanwhile, Navjeet Dhillon’s third attempt is also a failed one.

4.37 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

Seema Punia’s third attempt is a failed one, while Dani Stevens throws an incredible 64.51 to further cement her top spot! Navjeet Dhillon’s second attempt was also a failed one.

4.35 pm: Women’s Heptathlon 200m

India’s Purnima Hembram finishes fourth in the 200m race of the heptathlon but is promoted to third after Ghana’s Elizabeth Dadzie is disqualified.

4.30 pm: Table tennis women’s singles QF

India’s Manika Batra is through to the semi-finals of the table tennis women’s singles after beating Yihan Zhou of Singapore in five games: 11-5, 11-6, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9.

4.26 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

Seema Punia’s second attempt is slightly off her first – 59.57. She’s still in second position behind Australia’s Dani Stevens.

4.22 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

Australia’s Dani Stevens overtakes Seema Punia at the top with a super throw of 61.39! The battle is on! Meanwhile, the second Indian in the fray, Navjeet Dhillon, can only manage 55.61.

4.15 pm: Women’s Discus Throw Final

India’s Seema Punia throws an excellent 60.41 in her first attempt in the Discus Throw final and she is currently on top of the table! Great start!

4.09 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

Nayana James’s final attempt is as good as her second, but not good enough for her to make the cut. She too has been eliminated and will finish last in the pack. Nellickal finishes 10th and fails to qualify too. And that’s the end of India’s challenge in the women’s long jump final.

4.06 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

Neena Nellickal jumps 6.19 in her final attempt – her best the night – but that is still not enough to get her into the top eight, which means her final is over.

3.55 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

Nayana James’s second jump is shorter than her first one. She’ll need a much better final attempt to make the podium.

3.53 pm: Look who’s watching the athletics action right now.

3.50 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

Neena Nellickal does a tad better in her second attempt but she’ll need a MUCH better final jump to make the podium. The record so far in the final is 6.84.

3.40 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

Nayana James does a little better than her compatriot in her first attempt in the long jump final. Nayana records 6.14, but that is still well below her personal best of 6.55.

3.35 pm: Women’s Long Jump Final

India’s Neena Nellickal has had a poor start to the long jump final, recording only a 5.90 in her first attempt. Her personal best is 6.66 so she’ll hope to do better in the next couple of attempts.

3.28 pm: Women’s Heptathlon Shot Put

Not a very impressive performance from India’s Purnima Hembram, whose best shot put attempt in the heptathlon is 11.75, which turns out to be the seventh best in the field. Purnima’s personal best is 11.93, so she would be disappointed with her effort.

After three events of the heptathlon, Purnima is in seventh position overall with 2,565 points. The leader, Australia’s Alysha Burnett, has 2,770.

3.12 pm: Badminton

Saina Nehwal is through to the quarter-finals after her opponent, Jessica Li from Isle of Man, retires in the beginning of the second game. Nehwal had won the first game easily 21-4. Over in the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also reach the quarter-finals after beating Mauritius’s Aatish Lubah and Christopher Jean Paul in straight games.

3.09 pm: Squash mixed doubles quarter-finals

India’s Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu are out of the mixed doubles competition after losing in straight games to New Zealand’s Joelle King and Paul Coll in the quarter-finals. Both games were tight, with the Kiwis winning them 11-10, 11-10.

2.53 pm: After today’s Wrestling competition, here is a quick look at the medal tally.

2.44 pm: Squash - Mixed Doubles Quarterfinal 2

2.34 pm: While we were following the Wrestling closely, lots of action has taken place in the table tennis competition.

Men’s Doubles Round of 16:

Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals:

2.22 pm: Sushil Kumar has just received his gold medal – his THIRD at the CWG after 2010 and 2014! No wonder he doesn’t seem that impressed with his achievement! He’s like, ‘Yeah, whatever!’

2.05 pm: Easy peasy for Sushil, who needs only 80 seconds to win his 74 kg freestyle final against Johannes Botha of South Africa. Sushil wins India’s second GOLD in wrestling!

1.52 pm: Script for Dangal 2?

1.48 pm: Babita Kumari has received her silver medal too!

1.45 pm: Here’s Rahul Aware with his gold medal! Great moment for the young grappler! He got a bit emotional while the Indian national anthem was playing.

1.35 pm: Yet another wrestling medal for India as Kiran wins the BRONZE via repechage in the Women’s Freestyle 76 kg! Kiran took a 10-0 lead in the first period against Mauritius’s Katouskia Pariadhaven, after which she was awarded the match by technical superiority!

1.25 pm: Rahul Aware takes a lap of honour and thanks the crowd for their support. There were quite a few Indians in the crowd and were heard cheering loudly during the match!

1.16 pm: Men’s Freestyle 57 kg

It’s GOLD for India’s Rahul Aware! The 26-year-old was always on top of his opponent, Canada’s Steven Takahashi, throughout the match and deservedly won 15-7 on points! Aware won nine of his 15 points in the second period.

1.03 pm: But before Sushil’s match, it’s the Men’s Freestyle 57 kg gold-medal match between Rahul Aware and Steven Takahashi of Canada!

1 pm: Sushil Kumar will be on the mat soon in his 74 kg freestyle final. Can he win the gold again?

12.45 pm: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

It’s SILVER for Babita Kumari as she loses 2-5 to Canada’s Diana Weicker. Babita was quite defensive throughout the match but after initially failing to make inroads in the first period, Weicker managed to get four points in the second period to put the match beyond the Indian.

12.40 pm: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

Babita Kumari trails 0-1 after the first period. She was awarded a penalty for passivity and could not score a point in the 30-second period following that. Still a tight match!

12.37 pm: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

Babita Kumari’s gold-medal clash with Diana Weicker is underway! Come on, Babita!

2.35 pm: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

Bose Samuel wraps up the bronze medal in no time! She wins by technical superiority after taking a 10-0 lead in the first period!

12.33 pm: We are moments away from the final of the women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic event, where Babita Kumari will be grappling for gold with Canada’s Diana Weicker. First up, the bronze-medal playoff between Bose Samuel (Nigeria) and Deepika Dilhani (Sri Lanka)!

12.28 pm: Table Tennis men’s singles Round of 16

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is through to the quarter-finals as his Nigerian opponent Segun Toriola retires after losing the first game.

12.13 pm: This isn’t directly related to the CWG but Kidambi Srikanth is now the world’s No 1 badminton player. The rankings were made official just a few moments back.

12.10 pm: Right, back to live action now and we start with the table tennis men’s singles, where Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is taking on Segun Toriola of Nigeria in the Round of 16. Sathiyan has won the first game 11-7.

11.25 am: And we have all the medal rounds in Wrestling coming up next. Three wrestlers are fighting for the gold and one for the bronze medal. First up will be Babita Kumari, followed by Rahul Aware, Kiran and finally, Sushil Kumar.

11.25 am: After two events in the Heptathlon, India’s Purnima Hembram is in 7th position – 191 points behind the leader. The next event will be Shot Put, which will happen later in the day.

11.15 am: Harmeet through to the quarters as well.

10.57 am: The shooters have put on a stunning show at the Gold Coast.

10.54 am: Men’s Fours Quarterfinal B (Lawn Bowls)

India have lost. They stretched Wales all the way but it ends here. They were doing pretty well till the 11th end, but failed to add to their tally after that.

10.47 am: Men’s Singles Round of 16

Slight blip in third game by Sharath is too strong, he is into the quarters.

10.44 am: India have had a pretty decent run in athletics – no medals but good performances from Mohd Anas and Hima Das. Can we finally get a medal today?

10.34 am: Women’s Singles Round of 16

Easy win for Sindhu. In the quarterfinal, she will face Canada’s Brittney Tam on Friday the 13th.

10.15 am: Women’s 50m Rifle Prone Finals

A silver for Tejaswini. Wonderful shooting. This is not an Olympic event but good stuff all the same. Veloso comes on top, once again beating an Indian into second place. She has had a wonderful Games.

9.46 am: Women’s 50m Rifle Prone Finals

Quick update: Tejaswini Sawant in fourth place after three Series; Anjum Moudgil in 18th

9.49 am: Table tennis - Women’s Singles Round of 16

Mouma Das wins! What a match! She had to fight all the way but she persisted and won through in seven tough games.

In the other match, Harmeet Desai(WR 74) defeated Chee Feng Leong(WR 272,MAS) to enter quarterfinal. Score:11-5,11-7,11-5,7-11,11-4

9.55 am: Badminton - Men’s Singles Round of 16

Easy does it. Srikanth wins too. He hardly broke a sweat. Too fast. Too good.

9.49 am: Table tennis - Women’s Singles Round of 16

Mouma is fighting hard. Takes the sixth game to take the match into the decider.

9.46 am: Women’s 50m Rifle Prone Finals

Two Indians taking part – Tejaswini Sawant and Anjum Moudgil.

9.41 am: Table tennis - Women’s Singles Round of 16

India’s Mouma Das is in some trouble here. In a tight contest, she trails 2-3.

Harmeet Desai, on the other hand, is in complete control.

9.37 am: Badminton - Men’s Singles Round of 16

Srikanth takes the first game. He made it look easy even though the Sri Lankan gave it his best shot. Some good moments there but Srikanth, who will officially become world no 1, is too good.

9.21 am: Badminton - Women’s Singles Round of 16

Sindhu, who an ankle concern early on, seems to have recovered well. She takes the first game.

9.14 am: Badminton - Men’s Singles Round of 16

Prannoy into the quarters too. Needed just one game point to finish things off. Too strong for the Aussie in the end. Srikanth’s match is coming up next.

9.09 am: Badminton - Women’s Singles Round of 16

The second game was a brutal one but Ruthvika is through to the last 8 too. Wonderful win.

8.56 am: Badminton - Men’s Singles Round of 16

Prannoy takes the first game but it hasn’t been as easy as expected. Still, Prannoy looks good enough to wrap this up in the second game.

8.52 am: Table Tennis singles

Manika Batra, who played an important part in India’s historic women’s team gold, is through to the singles quarters. But not before Australia’s Tracy Feng put her under some pressure. The Australian mixed things up beautifully after losing the first two games but Batra kept her composure and just ensured that she kept the ball in play till her opponent made mistakes to go through in five games.

8.49 am: Table Tennis singles

Madhurika Patkar’s hopes of making it to the last eight have been dashed by England’s Kelly Sibley. Patkar managed to close the gap twice against Sibley but it wasn’t enough.

8.47 am: Squash mixed doubles

India’s squash stars are making a move towards a medal in the paired events with the mixed doubles combination of Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal-Karthik making it to the quarterfinals after coming back from a game down against the Malaysian pair of Aifa Azman and Sanjay Chal

8.31 am: Badminton Mixed Doubles

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy progress to the quarter-finals after a straight-game win over their opponents from Singapore.

8.30 am: Table Tennis Mixed Doubles

Indian pairs Sathiyan Gnanasekaran-Manika Batra and Sanil Shetty-Madhurika Patkar are both through to the quarter-finals. Sathiyan and Manika were stretched by their Canadian opponents to five games, while Madhurika and Sani won easily in three games.

8.15 am: Wrestling Women’s Freestyle 76 kg

Indian wrestler Kiran is unfortunately unable to join her compatriots in the wrestling finals after losing her semi-final match to Nigeria’s Blessing Onyebuchi. The Nigerian was awarded the match by technical superiority after leading 10-0 in the first period.

8.08 am: An added note – Babita Kumari’s battle against Canada’s Diana Weicker later today will decide the gold and silver medals as no other wrestler in their group can overtake them in classification points! Babita joins Sushil Kumar and Rahul Aware in the gold-medal round!

7.59 am: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

Babita Kumari also pins Australia’s Carissa Holland down in the first period of their Nordic group match and is awarded the match within seconds of it commencing! Babita has played three and won three in her group. She’s got one more group match to go and that will be the toughest one so far, against Canada’s Diana Weicker, who has also won all her three matches so far.

7.54 am: Men’s Freestyle 74 kg

Sushil Kumar hardly breaks a sweat in his semi-final against Australia’s Connor Evans, as he manages to pin his opponent down in the first period itself and is awarded a victory by fall! Sushil is through to the final, where he will take on South Africa’s Johannes Botha!

7.46 am: Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 57 kg

Rahul Aware and Muhammad Bilal of Pakistan engage in a great grappling match, which the Indian eventually wins 12-8 on points! Aware drew first blood after Bilal was penalised for passivity and failed to score a point in the 30-second period that followed. Not only did Aware get that point, he also got two more for a switch to end the first period at 3-2.

Bilal, however, won two points for himself to start the second period, but was soon penalised again for locking his finger with the Indian. The Pakistani then drew level again to take the score to 4-4. From there, Aware won six straight points via ankle lace and that was that. Bilal managed to win four more points after that but Aware maintained a lead till the end.

This means that Rahul Aware is through to the final of this category, where he will take on Canada’s Steven Takahashi for gold!

7.29 am: Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 74 kg

Sushil Kumar crushes Pakistan’s Muhammad Asad Butt in their quarter-final and is awarded the bout by technical superiority after leading 10-0 in the first period. Sushil is through to the semi-finals!

7.26 am: Squash Men’s Doubles

India’s Ramit Tandon and Vikram Malhotra have been given a walkover in their Pool F match against a pair from Sierra Leone.

7.20 am: Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 57 kg

Rahul Aware is absolutely steamrolling his opponents on the mat! He was awarded his quarter-final match against Australia’s Thomas Cicchini by technical superiority after leading 10-0 in the first period itself.

7.15 am: Table Tennis Mixed Doubles

India’s Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das have no trouble getting past England’s David McBeath and Kelly Sibley in the Round of 16, beating them in straight games. The Indians are through to the quarter-finals.

7.10 am: Wrestling Women’s Freestyle 76 kg

India’s Kiran is through to the semi-finals of the women’s Freestyle 76 kg category after beating Cameroon’s Danielle Sino Guemde 11-1. Kiran was awarded the match by Technical Superiority.

7.04 am: Badminton Mixed Doubles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa are through to the quarter-finals after a straight-game win over Canada’s Kristen Tsai and Nyl Yakura in the Round of 16.

6.59 am: Wrestling Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic

Babita Kumari barely needs a minute to win her second Nordic group match against Sri Lanka’s Deepika Dilhani as she pins her opponent down within seconds and is awarded a Victory by Fall! Easy as you like it! Great start by the Indian wrestlers!

6.55 am: Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 57 kg 1/8 Final

Rahul Aware also has an easy first outing at Gold Coast as he defeats England’s George Ramm 11-0 in the first round! He’s through to the quarter-finals.

6.44 am: Wrestling Men’s Freestyle 74 kg

Sushil Kumar wins his opening bout 11-0 against Canada’s Jevon Balfour and this means he is through to the quarter-finals. Sushil won four points in the first period and seven in the second. No trouble at all!

6.41 am: Men’s Triple Jump Qualifying Round

Arpinder Singh finishes on top of his qualifying group in which no athlete managed to clear the automatic qualification mark of 16.60 m. However, this means that Arpinder is certainly going to make the cut for the final.

6.39 am: Men’s Triple Jump Qualifying Round

AV Rakesh Babu finishes fifth in his group after just two successful attempts, with a best of 15.98. Only one athlete from his group managed to clear the automatic qualification mark. Rakesh will now hope to qualify for the final as one of the 12 best performers across both groups but considering he has not even cleared 16 m, it looks difficult.

6.34 am: 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification

At the end of the first of two stages in the qualification round, India’s Neeraj Kumar and Anish are doing really well. Neeraj is on top of the table with a score of 291, while Anish is third with 286. Stage 2 still to come. The top six shooters at the end of both stages will qualify for the final.

6.30 am: Men’s Triple Jump Qualifying Round

Arpinder Singh is still on top of his group, although his second attempt of 16.16 was not as good as his first one (16.39). In the other group, AV Rakesh Babu hasn’t managed to clear 16m in his first two attempts.

6.26 am: Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic System Match

Babita Kumari wins her first Nordic match against Nigeria’s Bose Samuel 3-1! Babita was trailing 0-1 after the first period in which she conceded a point by being too passive. A mistake from the Nigerian in the second period allowed Babita to take advantage as she got on top of her opponent and managed to win two points. Babita got one more point towards the end of the match. It was not a convincing win but one she will gladly take.

6.12 am: The wrestling has begun at Gold Coast and India’s Babita Kumari is on the mat against Nigeria’s Bose Samuel in the Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic System Match.

6.09 am: Men’s Triple Jump Qualifying Round

India’s Arpinder Singh jumps 16.39 m in his first attempt and while that does not clear the automatic qualification mark of 16.60, he has the best jump in his group so far.

6 am: The Men’s Triple Jump Qualifying Round has begun and there are two Indians competing – AV Rakesh Babu and Arpinder Singh – in either group.

5.55 am: Women’s Heptathlon 100m Hurdles

Purnima Hembram is ranked 6th after the two heats of the 100m hurdles in the women’s heptathlon! The high jump section begins at 6.30 am IST.

5.50 am: PV Sindhu and the rest of the Indian shuttlers will be in action later today in the Round of 16.

5.40 am: Women’s Heptathlon 100m Hurdles

India’s Purnima Hembram finishes second in her heat with a personal best timing of 13.56! Great stuff! She’ll next be doing the high jump in the heptathlon.

5.30 am: Table Tennis Women’s Doubles R16

Sutirtha Mukherjee and Pooja Sahasrabudhe need four games but they are also through to the last eight after beating Welsh pair Charlotte Carey and Chloe Thomas in the Round of 16.

5.20 am: Table Tennis Women’s Doubles R16

Manika Batra and Mouma Das are through to the quarter-finals after a facile straight-games win over a Sri Lankan pair.

5 am: Time for some table tennis action as the women doubles Round of 16 kicks off. Two Indian pairs are competing for a spot in the quarter-finals.

4.50 am: 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification

Neeraj Kumar shoots a sub-total of 291 in Stage 1 to put him at the top of the table for now.

4.35 am: The 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification’s has started, with India’ s Neeraj Kumar and Anish Bhanwal in the fray.

4 am: Good morning, folks, and welcome to The Field’s live blog for Day 8 of the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Australia.

Wow, can you believe it’s been over a week already? Time sure does fly! We’re entering the last four days of this quadrennial event and India are doing pretty well in terms of medals – sitting third in the table with 24 (12 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze).

More medals are sure to be won and there could be a couple won on Thursday in shooting and athletics.

Thursday also marks the beginning of the wrestling events at Gold Coast and India has got quite a few grapplers in the fray. World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil is also in action in the 50-metre rifle prone final.

Here is the entire Day 8 schedule for India.

If you missed the action on Day 7, here is a recap.