Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast: Mixed day for Indian para paddlers

GOLD COAST: Indian para paddlers Maitreyee Sarkar and Vaishnavi Sutar had a mixed outing in their respective women's TT6-10 singles group matches at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast on Wednesday.

While Maitreyee thrashed Papua New Guniea's Vero Nime 3-0 in group 1, Vaishnavi went down 0-3 to Nigerian Faith Obazuaye in group 2.

Maitreyee overcame Wednesday's loss to Australian Melissa Tapper, with a 3-0 (11-2, 11-9, 11-2) win over the PNG paddler.

She will next face England's Felicity Pickard on Thursday for a place in the semi-finals.

On the other hand, Maitreyee's compatriot Vaishnavi's dreams of reaching the semi-finals are almost over after losing 0-3 to Nigerian Obazuaye.

The Indian had no reply to the Nigerian's aggressive play in all the three games that saw her winning 11-0, 11-2, 11-2.

Vaishnavi had earlier lost to Canada's Stephanie Chan on Tuesday. She will next face Australian Andrea McDonnell on Thursday.

In other events, Indian shooter Om Prakash Mitherval on Wednesday finished third to settle for a bronze medal in men's 50m Pistol event at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast.

Om registered a score of 201.1 in the final. Daniel Repacholi of Australia took the gold with a new CWG record of 227.2. Shakil Ahmed of Bangladesh took silver with 220.5.

Defending champion Jitu Rai, the other Indian in the fray, had a disappointing outing.

The reigning Asian Games champion registered a decidedly below par 105 to finish at the bottom of the eight-man final.

With this victory, India now has a total of 22 medals (11. 4, 7). 

Meanwhile, veteran Indian star MC Mary Kom defeated Anusha Dilruksh of Sri Lanka to enter the final of the women's 48 kilogram category at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Wednesday.

Mary's experience and superior technique stood her in good stead as she carved out a unanimous 5:0 verdict against the veteran Sri Lankan fighter.

The 39-year-old Anusha gave a good account of herself against the five-time world champion Indian before falling short in the end.

Both boxers were a bit cautious in the opening round, trying to gauge each other although Mary managed to land several punches.

Although the Lankan had the height and reach advantage, Mary used a low guard and used her reflexes and feet movement to take the advantage.

Both boxers were equally matched in the second round before the tempo picked up in the third as Mary picked up the points with a steady barrage of punches.