The Commonwealth Games suffered the hammer blow of a homegrown drugs cheat yesterday, while Sri Lanka’s first boxing gold in 72 years was compared to winning the cricket World Cup.
Rani Yadav, who placed sixth in the women’s 20km walk, tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.
Organizing committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot said it was unfortunate that an athlete from the host nation had cheated.
PHOTO: AFP
“It is unfortunate. We try our level best to obey the regulations,” he said. “We and the government are very serious about this. We did a lot of out-of-competition tests and in-competition tests, but still someone tests positive and it is a difficult situation.”
The doping setback cooled celebrations from Tuesday which had seen the women’s 4x400m relay team become India’s first ever women’s track champions in the history of the Games.
On the penultimate day of the Games, 27 gold medals were being decided, with 10 in boxing.
Manju Wanniarachchi won Sri Lanka’s first boxing gold since 1938 as British fighters dominated the first session of the finals.
The 30-year-old lingerie factory worker from Kandy beat Wales’ Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight division.
His was the only non-British win in the first five of 10 fights, which saw Northern Ireland take two golds — their first since 1994 — and England and Scotland get a gold medal each.
Wanniarachchi was awarded the fight for being the most aggressive boxer after he and the 18-year-old McGoldrick finished 7-7 on points after the third round.
His manager, Dian Gomes, said: “It’s a great victory for us after 72 years. It means so much for boxing in Sri Lanka. This is one of the greatest victories of all time. It’s as good as winning the cricket World Cup.”
Northern Ireland’s stirring anthem Danny Boy was played twice on the podium after European champion Paddy Barnes won the light-flyweight crown and Paddy Gallagher was victorious in the welterweight division.
Australia won their second successive women’s hockey gold with a nerve-wracking 4-2 win over New Zealand on penalties.
Jessica Nicole scored the winner, while Krystal Forgesson missed her attempt in the shoot-out after the scores were tied 2-2 at the end of regulation and extra-time.
Scotland’s David Millar took the time trial cycling gold, winning by nearly a minute in the searing New Delhi heat and in an event where once again spectators were largely absent.
Millar, hot off a bronze medal in the men’s 168km road race, set a blistering pace to outgun his rivals in the first half of the 40km ride, before pulling further ahead as the mercury hit 44oC at the Noida Expressway.
Meanwhile, Singapore, Scotland, England and Malaysia all won gold medals on the final day of the shooting competition.
It was a subdued day, though, for hosts India who were unable to add to their gold medal haul in the final four small bore events.
The biggest disappointment came when ace rifle-shooter Gagan Narang, aiming for his fifth title, failed to qualify for the finals of the 50m rifle prone event.
On Tuesday night, about 55,000 fans roared the women’s 4x400m relay team to an unlikely victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
“The crowd was amazing, their support gave us extra motivation,” Ashwini Akkunji, who ran the third leg, told reporters.
“At the same time, I could feel some pressure as well. They would have gone home really upset had we returned empty-handed tonight,” she added.
Mandeep Kaur took the baton home to clinch India’s first track title since Milkha Singh’s 440 yards gold medal at what was then the Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Japan yesterday secured a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup finals appearance with a 2-1 win over 2023 champions Canada, thanks to Ena Shibahara and Shuko Aoyama’s 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win over Kayla Cross and Rebecca Marino in the qualifying doubles decider. Shibahara and Aoyama powered through the opening set 6-3, breaking twice for a quick 3-0 lead. Cross and Marino hit back in the second, edging it 7-5 to level the match, before the Japanese pair regained control in the third. Canada’s 18-year-old Victoria Mboko edged Shibahara 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5 in a marathon opening clash. Mboko fired eight aces to
DAY OF BLOWOUTS: Elsewhere, the Lakers clinched the third seed in the Western Conference with a 140-109 pounding of the under-strength Houston Rockets The Denver Nuggets on Friday improved their playoff position, with a triple double from Nikola Jokic helping them to a 117-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. The Serbian put up 26 points, 13 assists and 16 rebounds. The triple-double performance, his 34th this season, ensured that he will finish the regular season as just the third NBA player to average a triple double across an entire season. The win meant the Nuggets improved to 49-32 on the season and gave them a real chance of grabbing fourth place and home-court advantage in the playoffs. Aaron Gordon top scored with 33 points for Denver,
RSS