Gold rush at Gold Coast

SPORTING success drives a nation’s pride like nothing else. Indians found several reasons to be proud about on Sunday at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) as the day’s three gold took India to joint No. 3 on the medals table. Propelling India to a higher place on the medals list were the women athletes — weightlifter Punam Yadav, Manu Bhaker and the women’s table tennis teams taking top position on the winner’s podium. Heena Sidhu got a silver, too, and Mary Kom assured herself of at least a bronze. Finally, the women’s hockey team shocked world champions England 2-1. It was the best day of this CWG for India.

Manu, the new CWG champion in the 10m Air Pistol event, has had a meteoric rise since she emerged on the shooting scene and has the ability to reach greater heights at the global level. Weightlifter Punam Yadav, winner of a bronze at Glasgow CWG in 2014, recorded a creditable performance to strike gold after going up a weight division. The third gold, won by the women’s table tennis team, was won against huge odds — India beat Singapore, a regional giant, 3-1 in the final. Star player Manika Batra, the world No. 58, fought down world No. 4 Feng Tianwei 3-2 before beating world No. 100 Yihan Zhou as India shocked Singapore. On Monday, the mixed badminton and men’s table tennis teams too added gold to India’s basket after Jitu Rai won the 10m Air Pistol gold in the afternoon.

Sunday’s three gold took the  women athletes’ contribution to the Indian gold count to five. For the first time ever, the ongoing Commonwealth Games offer an equal number of medals for male and female athletes. Bringing about gender equality is a stated goal of the International Olympic Committee, too. This is important because a nation, and the world, must have role models like Manu and Punam, Mary and Manika for the girl child, who too must have home-bred sporting icons to look up to and emulate. This can only be good for both the individual and society.