India dominate wrestling event

Dutt and Yadav lead India to double-gold glory cementing its place as the dominant force in wrestling.

NEW DEHLI: Yogeshwar Dutt and Narsingh Yadav led India to double-gold glory cementing the country’s place as the dominant force in wrestling.

Yadav led India’s wrestlers as they beat South African Richard Addinall in the 74-kilogramme freestyle final, while Yogeshwar Dutt beat Canada’s James Mancini in the 60-kilogramme freestyle category.

Meanwhile, India’s Gagan Narang won his fourth gold medal as the hosts continued to dominate the shooting medals at the Games.

Narang won the 50-metre Rifle 3 Positions individual event with a score of 1262.2 in the final round. Indian shooter Vijay Kumar clinched his second gold of the day when he won the 25-metre Centrefire Pistol Pairs event in the company of Harpreet Singh.

The Indian pair broke the 16-year-old Games record set by compatriots Jaspal Rana and Ashok Pandit in 1994 by a single point.

Adams powers to gold

Olympic and World Champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand obliterated her own Games record to easily win the women’s shot put gold medal to end a long season. Adams, formally Vili, threw a new mark of 20.47 metres on her first attempt, bettering her own record of 19.66 metres, and hoisted the shot over 20 metres on each of her next five throws.

Coutts’ five golds highlight for Australia

Alicia Coutts won her fifth gold of the Games and Leisel Jones took the 10th of her near flawless Commonwealth career, as Australia’s women romped to relay victory in New Delhi.

The win in the 4x100-metre medley finale also gave teammate Emily Seebohm her eighth medal in a week. Australia’s men extended their unbeaten record in the 4x100-metre medley, after the 100-metre butterfly champion Geoff Huegill powered the team into pole position. Australia won two of the other seven finals on Saturday: double world champion Jessica Schipper retained her 200-metre butterfly title while Brenton Rickard won the men’s 200-metre breaststroke.

Published in The Express  Tribune, October 10^th, 2010.