CWG: Preeti, Jasmine golden girls as India begin medal-hunt on 10th day

Boxers Preeti Pawar and Jasmine Lamboria were at the forefront of India’s medal-rush as the 10th and penultimate day of the competition began at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Saturday. While they began the day with gold medals in respective weight categories, Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu Thirumaran ensured a double podium finish in triple jump as India looked set for a rich haul.

Preeti, battling in women’s 54 kg class, punched her way to India’s first gold medal in boxing with a dominant 5-0 win against Canada’s Scarlett Delgado. Moments later, world champion Jasmine Lamboria also won the gold medal in the women’s 57 kg category by beating Michaela Walsh, a 2022 gold medallist, 5-0.

A Naib Subedar in Indian army, Preeti got off to a stunning start in the gold medal match, winning the opening round unanimously with all five judges adjudicating 10-8 in her favour.The 22-year-old started the second round where she left off and emerged victorious to give India their first gold medal of the day.

The world No. 3 in the bantamweight division had secured an easy 5-0 unanimous decision victory against Zambia's Catherine Mwape in the semi-finals.

Praveen, hailing from a remote village in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu, had been a beneficiary of Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) alongwith Selva. He registered a best jump of 16.58 metres to finish with silver while Selva logged 16.52m for the bronze.

Significantly, India registered their best-ever performance in Para events of CWG where they finished with seven medals – three gold medals and two each in silver and bronze, respectively.