New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS): Indian women discus throwers Monday created history by sweeping all the three medals - gold, silver and bronze - at the Commonwealth Games and set several records in the process.
Theirs is the first gold in athletics after 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh's first way back in 1958 at Cardiff; the first time women have won all medals in an event in the Games; and the first time that it was the tri-colour all the way during the medal presentation ceremony at the majestic Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
The trio that made it a memorable Monday are Krishna Pooniya, Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil and a near-full stadium gave them a standing ovation as they received the medals.
Pooniya clinched the gold with a throw of 61.51 metres, Kaur silver with 60.16m and Antil the bronze with 58.46m.
Pooniya's top honour took India's gold tally to 30, equalling the highest count achieved eight years ago at Manchester.
With 28 silver and 28 bronze, India remained at the second spot in the overall medal table which continued to be topped by Australia with 62 gold, 39 silver and 38 bronze. England were in the third spot with 26 gold, 46 silver and 34 bronze.
The women shooters were, however, unlucky on this golden day for Indian athletics. They narrowly lost gold in the women's 50 metres rifle prone event.
Tejaswini Sawant, a world champion in 50 metres prone, shot 583 and Meena Kumari 585 for a total of 1,168 points, one point less than Scotland's Jen McIntosh (591) and Kay Copland (578) and English girls Michelle Smith (590) and Sharon Lee (579) who tied on points at 1169.
Jen and Kay took the gold on the basis of 60 perfect 10s to 52 perfect 10s of Michelle and Sharon who got the silver.
India's hopes of a slew of gold medals in boxing were dashed as Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Amandeep Singh (49kg), Asian Championships silver-medallist Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and nine-time national champion Dilbag Singh (69kg) lost their semi-final bouts.
The three got a bronze each as both losing semi-finalists are given a bronze in boxing.
There was good news from the badminton courts.
Led by world No.3 Saina Nehwal, a host of Indian players moved into the quarter-finals of the individual badminton event, raising hopes of multiple medals.
Top seeded Saina spanked Caroline Black of Northern Ireland 21-0, 21-2 to set up a clash with sixth seeded Canadian Anna Rice, whom the Indian beat in the quarter-finals of the mixed team event.
In men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap entered the semi-finals upsetting fourth seeded Mohammad Hafiz Hashim in the quarter-final after being one-set down. He beat Hashim 19-21, 21-19, 21-16.
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa pulled off a fine victory against Malaysian Eei Hui Chin and Woon Khe Wei 15-21, 21-10, 21-16 to advance into the last eight in women's doubles.
Aditi Mutatkar also moved into the women's singles quarter-final with a 21-11, 21-17 victory over Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour. But the Indian now faces second seeded Malaysian Mew Choo Wong.
Top ranked Indian and third seed Chetan Anand defeated Jamie Van Hooijdonk of Wales 21-8, 21-2 in another third round match.
Mixed doubles second seeds Jwala Gutta and V. Diju defeated compatriots Rupesh Kumar and Ashwini Ponnappa 15-21, 21-18, 21-16.
On the eighth day of competitions Monday, it was revealed that Nigerian Osayemi Oludamola, who was awarded gold in 100 metre race after Australian Sally Pearson was disqualified for false start, had tested positive for a banned stimulant and had been provisionally suspended pending outcome of tests of 'B' samples.
"I regret to announce that a positive dope case has come out. Nigeria's Osayemi Oludamola has tested positive for methylhexanamine and under anti-doping rules of the Games, she has been handed a provisional suspension," Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell told reporters here.
On her gold medal, Fennell said: "At the moment, no decision has been taken about the medal. She has been put under provisional suspension."