CWG Day 7: Australia unbeatable

Track the latest news, results and gossip coming out of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, India.

ATHLETES’ VILLAGE, NEW DELHI: Day 7 of the Commonwealth Games has a total of 32 gold medals on the line with others coming in archery (2), shooting (4), and wrestling (4).

End of live updates.

9:48pm

Meditation for the firing range? Apparently so. According to a Reuters report, Sailor Harpreet Singh credited meditation to giving him the mental strength to overcome his heavily favoured mentor to win another Indian shooting gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

"I have been meditating a lot of late. That helps in building up concentration," Harpreet said after finishing ahead of Vijay Kumar in the men's 25 metre centre fire pistol singles event at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range on Sunday.

8:48pm

Cycling continues at the Commonwealth Games with an added local twist!

Australian cyclists Allan Davis and Rochelle Gilmore dodged wild dogs and monkeys on the stifling empty streets of Delhi to win the Commonwealth Games men's and women's road races on Sunday Reuters reports.

The pair showed incredible stamina to sprint to victory on the flat winding course, which resembled a ghost town after a huge armed security presence kept the public but not the wildlife away.

"Apart from the wild monkeys and dogs, there was nothing too challenging," Gilmore, covered in dirt after completing the 112-km race, told reporters.

8:20pm

European champion Dai Greene handed Wales its first gold medal in New Delhi when he powered over the line to win the men's Commonwealth Games 400m hurdles title on Sunday.    Greene crossed in 48.52 seconds to hold off a late charge by South African defending champion Louis Van Zyl with another Welshman, Rhys Williams, taking the bronze, AFP reports. Another controversy? The government auditor CAG will restart audit of expenses incurred for the Commonwealth Games on October 15 -- a day after the closing ceremony -- and would submit report within three months states an Indian Express report.

8:00 pm

India beat Pakistan 7-4 on Day 7 at the CWG preliminaries Group 'A' hockey match.

7:50pm

India give Pakistan a tough time as they score their seventh goal in the ongoing hockey match against Pakistan.

7:45pm

Pakistan are struggling to catch up as they score their third goal in the ongoing hockey match, while India lead 6-3.

7:30 pm

India continues to dominate Pakistan 6-2, scoring yet another goal at the CWG hockey match.

7:25 pm

India score yet another goal against Pakistan at the ongoing CWG hockey match, dominating 5-2 over Pakistan.

7:05 pm

Pakistan score their second goal against India in the ongoing hockey match, leaving the scorecard 4-2 in India's favour. Go Pakistan!

7:00 pm

Pakistan score their first goal against India in the ongoing hockey match at the CWG.

6:55 pm

India score their fourth goal against Pak in ongoing Ind v Pak hockey match.

6:50 pm

Shivendra of India scores their third goal against Pakistan in the Ind v Pak hockey match taking place at the CWG on Day 7.

umangshahx That was amazing GOAL... #India now 3up..#Hockey #cwg #cwg2010

SCbra Another goal... this time a field goal... #India lead 3-0... kya baat, kya baat, kya baat... #Hockey #CWG

happysahota Excellent Goal By India #hockey #india #CWG

6:45 pm

India is on fire at the hockey match against Pakistan as they score a successive second goal.  Supporters cheer their teams on with loud cheers.

6:30 pm

The India v Pakistan hockey match at the CWG has started and India have scored one goal in the opening minutes of the match. Supporters are cheering their teams on, and the stadium for this event on Day 7 is brimming with fans.

MasuudQazi RT @katelorimer this is the big one-#India v#Pakistan in hockey. The winner gets the semi-final spot. Possibly the 1st event sold out #CWG!

happysahota watching hockey India made first goal at 2nd min..#hockey #india

umangshahx GOAL! Great penalty hit.. #India 1 up.. #Hockey#cwg #cwg2010

pratyushsinha Goooooooooaaaaaaallll!!! #india

6:20 pm

Australia's Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak on Day 7 win gold in the women's 10m synchro, going one better than their silver in Melbourne.

The pair wins with a score of 335.76 from five dives, ahead of Malaysia's Pandelela Rinong and Mun Yee Leong in silver and Australia teammates Briony Cole and Annabelle Smith.

6:10 pm

Tweeple celebrate Pakistan's golden victories

shirazhassan whaoaaa!! 2nd gold medal for #PakistanMohammad Inam wins Wrestling - Freestyle - Men's 84kg #CWG

MasuudQazi Told ya, another gold was on our way. Inam beats Kumar. Wrestlers on a roll! #CWG #Pakistan

Rectified_Guy Wohoo, Pakistan won another Gold Medal. Inam won the Gold Medal for #Pakistan. #Karachi

virtualvamps Congratulations!!! RT @farhanmasood: cant believe, #Pakistan GoGreen fb pg will be reaching 20,000 fans | WOW | @RumaisaM

asmiather YAHOO love it :) “@etribune: (Breaking) Wrestler Inam wins Pakistan's second gold at #CWG 2010 (cont) http://tl.gd/6dqqfl

asmiather Atlast just gr8 Yahoo :) “@etribune: (Breaking) Pakistani wrestler wins country's first gold medal at (cont)http://tl.gd/6dq287

5:50 pm

Another gold for Pakistan as wrestler Muhammad Inam is victorious in the mens freestyle 84kg event on Day 7 at the CWG where he beat his Indian opponent Anuj Kumar. Go team Pakistan!

5:00 pm

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani congratulate the wrestler on his victory, reports Express 24/7.4:50 pm

Congratulations to wrestler Azhar Hussain for winning Pakistan's first gold medal at the CWG! He was competing against Nigeria's Ebikewenimo Welson in the fina in the 55kg freestyle wrestling event.

Azhar Hussain also claimed the first silver medal for his country to put Pakistan on the medals table.

4: 45 pm

Exciting news for the Pakistan camp as wrestlers Azhar Hussain (55kg) and Mohammad Inam (8kg)  qualify for the finals. The finals will be contested later on Day 7.

4: 35 pm

Allan Davis of Australia wins the gold medal in the men's road race at the CWG on Day 7. New Zealand's Hayden Roulston takes silver with David Millar of Scotland wins the bronze.

4:15 pm

The CWG are gearing up for a clash of the titans, as Pakistan will face India in a hockey match on Day 7.

Pakistan faces a do-or-die situation. With a win, it can keep its hopes alive for a title, after suffering a loss to Australia.

Meanwhile, India have so far excelled only in patches.

Pakistan have six points from two wins and one defeat.

India have a minus two-goal difference. Consequently, the clash will virtually determine the qualifiers from Pool A.

The Pakistani officials are saying that they are treating the CWG as part of their preparations for next month's Asian Games.

4:00 pm

Swimmers at CWG in the Tweeting spotlight

janemoharich Male divers wear v. small speedos. #justsayin#CWG

alicevictoria19 Matthew Mitcham is amazing. I have a total gay guy crush on him, and I'm a straight girl. #cwg

superhotmel All the divers wear cute little hip-grazing shorties. And they're all ripped. Am enjoying this #CWG

Grosby Nothing quite like a sleek, toned man, in speedos, on the end of a diving board. #cwg

fruitflyCaz Of all the outfits worn by athletes the male divers' is my favourite ;) #IsAPerv #diving #cwg

fruitflyCaz Is anyone else watching the men's 1m #diving at the#cwg? I need someone to hold my hand!

3:45 pm

England's Aaron Reading wins gold in the Men's Trap singles event at the CWG on Day 7.

3:30 pm

Samoa's Ele Opeloge wins the CWG women's +75kg super-heavyweight weightlifting title on Day 7. Nigeria's Maryam Usman takes silver while Australia's Deborah Acason claims bronze.

3:15 pm

Reuters reports that CWG officials said on Day 7 a volunteer had been reported for ticket fraud and that they were still fixing the ticket system, halfway through an event where availability of tickets has been a major problem.

Indian media have reported bundles of valid Games tickets found in trash bins and the sale of complimentary passes, while fans have been turned away from officially sold-out venues that have hosted events before half-empty stands.

Games organising committee head Suresh Kalmadi said a volunteer had been reported to police for trying to sell tickets fraudulently.

"There is no question of condoning such acts. We won't encourage such things," he told reporters, refuting reports that a Games official was involved in ticketing fraud.

He said "10 percent" more tickets were being printed to be given away free.

2:30 pm

Canada win women's 3m Synchro springboard diving gold.

2:15 pm

Akhil Kumar on Day 7 lost the chance to retain his CWG bantamweight crown in front of a home crowd after Louis Julie got revenge for his finals defeat in Melbourne.

rajeevpareek Huge disappointment when Akhil lost....#cwg

gasharma Akhil just got a lesson never to take his opponent lightly. And he was arrogant and rude. #boxing #cwg

rijolf Watching #cwg boxing. Sad to see Akhil kumar go out. He fought hard. But his opponent was too negative! :-(

faLc0n_Arjit Big setback For India in boxing ring....Akhil Kumar loses #CWG

1:45 pm

With central Delhi emptied for CWG cycling on Day 7, India presented a desolate face which had more in common with the opening of an apocalyptic zombie horror film, AFP reports.

There were no spectators anywhere on the road race course winding around Connaught Square, with police having shut all access roads and the streets around the city's iconic markets, gardens and monuments eerily still.

Newspapers blew across the deserted Ashoka Road and Parliament Street as a handful of officials, outnumbered by hungry-looking, flea-bitten dogs, tried to look busy with no crowd to control.

The intention was to secure the race amid fears over terrorist attacks in the normally bustling city but it left some participants wondering if the authorities had been over-zealous in their decision to scrap atmosphere in favour of peace of mind.

England's Katie Conclough, who finished 16th said: "There wasn't much atmosphere. The crowd was very bare apart from the armed guards everywhere.

"It was a shame to have had this big event and not have many people out there to watch it."

Stands had been put up along the course but were deserted as traffic restrictions and a lack of public transport deprived fans of an opportunity to get anywhere near the racers.

Elaborate security included helicopter assault teams, commando hit squads along the route and quick reaction police units.

The road race course took in most of the city centre's major thouroughfares including Parliament Street, Janpath and Vijay Chowk and traffic was stopped at barricades blocking 15 roads.

"To facilitate traffic and security arrangements, these routes were closed from midnight," a senior police official was quoted as saying in the Times of India, adding that no crossing roads on the event route was allowed.

Olympic champion Nicole Cooke, who finished outside the medals, said: "Apart from a couple of photograhers and the armed guards there was no one out there."

An Australian agency photographer told AFP: "It should be pretty spectacular around Parliament Street - you should be able to get a good shot - but it was weird. The whole place was just empty."

1:25 pm

England beat South Africa 2-1 in a CWG men's Pool B hockey match here on Day 7.

1:10 pm

A report in Tehelka conjures a disturbing image of the workers who have seen the most inhuman face of the CWG:

The squalor around Shivaji Stadium fills you with rage that you cannot photograph. Rage at the stench of excreta, which hits you first from the common toilets near a CWG worker’s shanty. At the state of this shanty — built out of galvanised iron sheets and tarpaulin. By noon, these sheets burn your fingertips when you touch them. They make the shanty an oven for those within.

Akbar Sheikh is within. He is a cook, and this shanty is his kitchen. Sheikh, now 50, first came to Delhi during the 1982 Asian Games as a 22-year-old construction worker. Now he accompanies 30-odd brick layers from his home district of Murshidabad in West Bengal. He sifts insects off rice leftovers as photojournalist Samar Jodha asks him for a picture. “I got paid more for the Asian Games than for the CWG,” says Sheikh. The workers in Sheikh’s gang, like most of the nearly two lakh labourers employed by the CWG, make Rs.100 a day, when their statutory minimum wage is Rs. 203. The amount spent on the most expensive CWG ever has exceeded Rs. 30,000 crore and will go up further. More Rage. Mosquitoes, in the time of dengue, flit in from open drains. Water from the toilets seeps in near where a sack of potatoes lies. Sheikh is not embarrassed by Samar shooting all this. He thinks it’s normal. Five of his companions have fallen ill. They have been taken to government doctors who have offered them a pill they give everyone: a likely placebo. Three of these five are not recovering, and might have to be laid off. Rage persists.

1:00 pm

Tweeple Tweet their pride for Delhi

Andyhorbury Plus Delhi looks amazing today... lush, green and a place I'd like to be today #cwg

blntechie Spectacular view of delhi in the cycling event. Must watch.#CWG

sauravarora Watching cycling Event #cwg live at #DDNational, Delhi looks so Green !! #GoGreen

TheRadioJoker Just woke up and now singing Sun is shining !!#Delhi

Sudhaam Loved the early morning nip in the air....is this the onset of #Delhi winter? Can't wait....

BadboyBala Aerial view of Central #Delhi on eve of cycle event!! Roads good for cycling :)

kaushikbasak Lovely breezy sunny Sunday morning... :) #delhi#weather

12:40 pm

Singapore's Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei wins the gold in the women's 10m Air rifle indivdual event at the CWG on Day 7.

12:25 pm

A good start for India as Harpreet Singh wins the gold medal in the men's 25m Centrefire Pistol event at the CWG on Day 7.

12:05 pm

Australia's Rochelle Gilmore wins the gold medal in the women's road race at the CWG on Day 7. England's Elizabeth Armitstead takes silver with Chloe Hosking of Australia winning the bronze.

11:50 am

Ticketing woes

The CWG top officials insist on Day 7 the problems that have plagued the event are slowly being ironed out, but admit ticketing and website issues remain.

As the Games entered their second week, Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell said the biggest area still dogging organisers was the blundering information service for the press.

Thousands of international media are in Delhi, but the official website, which gives media and others timely, basic information, has been a disaster.

Results, schedules, statistics and biographies have frequently not been available, with a new website having to be created on Day 7 to try and make amends.

"It has not been good on the information system. We continue to work and see how we can correct the glitches," said Fennell.

"This is the main area of concern. We are very unhappy with the Games information system. We hope the alternative arrangements are helping." Swiss Timing manages the Games' information system, with the Infostrada company the providers.

The poor service is a big embarrassment for India, which prides itself on being a technology power. Experts quoted by Indian media have blamed miscalculations in determining bandwidth output for the shambles.

While stadiums are now starting to fill up after a barrage of complaints by people not being able to purchase tickets, Fennell said he continued to receive mixed reports.

"For example, we have had reports from the wrestling to say that attendance is really good, and there has been a very good turnout at the athletics," he said.

"But we know there are problems elsewhere and there are a lot of complaints that people can't buy tickets or use their tickets to get in."

He said though that transportaion problems had been largely resolved with hundreds of new drivers employed who know their way around Delhi, while praising the thousands of young volunteers for their exemplary conduct.

"We're very satisfied that the competition is now going well," he said.

Embattled organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who has consistently insisted the Games are up to scratch, again repeated his mantra on Day 7.

"Generally all the athletes are happy and all events are being held on schedule," said Kalmadi, who had been missing from the Games' daily press conferences for the previous two days.

"We've sorted out the transportation issues and now we have no complaints at all. Catering is now on track and it has been a successful week. The crowds are flocking into stadiums. "So generally, things are in place."

11:45 am

Who's saying what in Delhi on Day 7:

It wasn't meant to be a racist remark - in South Africa when someone calls you a monkey they mean hooligan." - South African swimmer Ronald Schoeman denying he made a racist remark to the crowd when he described fans as "monkeys".

"That has happened a few times in the past. I probably have to learn to tie them up properly." - Australia's Jared Tallent, the gold medal winner in the men's 20km walk, who completed the race with his laces on one shoe undone.

"I hit a blob near the finish and almost went for a six. That ruined my chances. I was pushing hard in second place but once that happened my chances were lost. The road was good otherwise. I think I found the only bad part of the track." - Australian road race walker Luke Adams on finding a sub-standard section of the course.

"We're going to kill ourselves so Cav has a chance to win the sprint." - Isle of Man cyclist Christopher Whorrall underlining his team's commitment to helping sprinter Mark Cavendish in the men's 168km road race.

"The heat can definitely affect your concentration. I saw one of the birds two metres away from me, and I thought, Jesus, what was that?'." - Nathan Burgers of Australia struggling with the heat during Australia's 1-0 victory over Pakistan when a flock of birds landed on the field of play.

"It's an iron clash between two cultures. Our aim is to get Delhi nice and quiet." - Pakistan coach Michel van den Heuvel ahead of Day 7's hockey showdown with India.

"Something happened to the trigger and it didn't release. I broke a firing pin a day or so back and we got that fixed, and I hoped it was not another one of those. But it went bang at the right time." - New Zealand's Alan Earle jokes about his malfunctioning pistol in the Men's 25m Centre Fire Pistol Pairs.

"I had no idea until one of the officials came up to me and shook my hand. I thought he was saying goodbye to me or something." - Earle's team-mate, Greg Yelavich, on not knowing they had won the silver medal.

11:30 am

Deepika Kumari of India wins the women's individual recurve archery final at the CWG on Day 7, collecting the home nation's second archery gold. Congratulations India!