Smooth sailing for Ghosal and Pallikal

The Indian pair of Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal were hardly stretched as the duo won both its matches to progress to the pre-quarterfinals in the mixed doubles event.

Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal in action during their match against Pakistan on Tuesday.

It was smooth sailing for Saurav Ghoshal and Dipika Pallikal in the mixed doubles event in squash of the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Oxenford studio court here on Tuesday.

Drawn in Pool C of the event, the Indian pair were hardly stretched as it won both its matches of the day to progress to the pre-quarterfinals. The duo was on court hardly for 13 minutes in its first tie as it registered a commanding 11-8, 11-7 win over Guyana's Jason Roy Kallil and Mary Fung-A-Fat. The duo next locked horns with the Pakistani pair of Tayyab Aslam and Madina Zafar and cruised to a 11-2, 11-3 victory.

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The pair of Harinder Singh Sandhu and Joshna Chinappa also coasted to an easy win in Pool H, accounting for the Cayman Islands pair of Jacob Kellly and Caroline Laing 11-3, 11-6.

In badminton, the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were the only Indians in action. The duo, which had played a crucial role in the country’s maiden gold medal triumph in the mixed team event, were hardly challenged by Stuart Hardy and Chloe Le Tissier (Guernsey) as it put up a 21-9, 21-5  win to reach the second round.

At the Optus aquatics centre, Sajan Prakash, to lone Indian to figure on the concluding day of the competitions in swimming, finished seventh in the men’s 1500m freestyle final, clocking 15: 52.84.

Sachin bags bronze in para powerlifting

Sachin Chaudhary did the country proud by bagging a bronze medal in the men’s heavyweight category in the para powerlifting on Tuesday. The 34-year-old began shakily, failing with a weight of 201kg through his first two attempts, but smartly cleared it in the third and was awarded 181.0 points for the bronze medal.

Nigerian Abdulazeez Ibrahim, who cleared 220kg and scored 191.1 points, stood first ahead of Malaysian Yee Khie Jong, who too cleared 220kg but could only garner 188.7 points.

The Meerut para-lifter is the third Indian to win a medal in the Games, after Ranjith Kumar Jayaseelan (athletics – discus throw) at the 2006 Melbourne Games and Prashant Karmakar (swimming – 50m freestyle) in New Delhi 2010. Both these athletes, like Sachin, won a bronze medal.