B SHRIKANT
GOLD COAST: If things go as per plan, India should have three medals on the opening day of competitions at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday. All three should come from weightlifting – a sport in which India have traditionally done well at Commonwealth Games because the competition is not as tough as in other major events like Asian Games, Olympics and World Championships.
Male lifters Gururaja (56kg) and Raja Muthupandi (69 kg) and Mirabai Chanu in women’s 45-48 kg category will launch India’s hunt for medals, and all three are expected to be successful.
But all eyes, be it Indians at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre in Gold Coast and those back home watching on television, will be on Chanu, who is expected to not only win gold but break the Games record. The 23-year-old from Manipur is the
reigning world champion in 48kg.
Having lifted a total of 194 kg in the 2017 World Championships at Anaheim, USA, Chanu can easily break the Commonwealth Games record of 175 kg, set by Augustine Nwaokolo of Nigeria in 2010.
National weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma has high hopes from his team, especially Mirabai Chanu. The team has trained hard and is well prepared. However, Sharma will have to ensure there is no complacency. Chanu was expected to do well at the Rio Olympics but after lifting 82kg in snatch, she failed to register a single legal lift in clean and jerk.
Gururaja will be first up in men’s 56kg where the fight will be between Chaturanga Lakmal of Sri Lanka and Manuell Tulo of Fiji.
In 62kg, Muthupandi will be hoping to hold his own as More Baru of Fiji and Talha Talib of Pakistan start favourites. They had gone toe-to-toe in the 2017 Commonwealth Championships where Baru bagged gold and Talib is gearing up to avenge that. While the focus will be on these two, Muthupandi will hope to cause an upset.
SINDHU TO SIT OUT
Indian shuttlers will step into the courts at the nearby Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre with confidence. They know they are the top dogs in both men’s and women’s singles.
Though they have never won the mixed team title, if they play to their potential and rankings, they should be able to set the record straight at Gold Coast. The biggest challenge in the tournament will come from Malaysia, England and Singapore. India have been grouped in Pool A with Scotland, Sri Lanka and Pakistan as 16 teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each.
Topping this group should not be a difficult task. India will open their campaign on Thursday against Sri Lanka in the morning and will take on Pakistan in the evening. However, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will not feature in the mixed team event against Sri Lanka.