India, Australia dominate medals table; Organizers continue to defend CWG, New Delhi
Australia and India have set an early pace on the medals table as the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee continues to defend the New Delhi Games. The CWG committee have now claimed that crowds will come in to fill the empty stadiums as the Games progress.
Meanwhile Australia pushed their overall tally of gold medals to 9 after winning 5 gold medals on Tuesday, adding to the four gold medals they won on the opening day as they continued to dominate proceedings.
The Australians as expected came out in great fashion, claiming 3 gold medals by winning the cycling event on the opening day and setting up three new records in the CW Games. Anna Meares successfully shielded her 500 meters time trial title, while Scott
Sunderland came out on top in thousand meters cycling category. Jack Bobridge put the icing on the cake as he too claimed a gold medal in the 4000 meters individual pursuit.
Meares bettered her own record by more than half a second by crossing the finish mark in 33.758 seconds, as she went on to defeat her compatriot Kaarle McCulloch who claimed silver and the bronze medal went to Welsh Becky James. Meares couldn’t have wished
for a better comeback than this after she broke her neck in a cycling clash at the World Cup in January, 2008.
Aussie swimmer Leiston Pickett added in the gold medals’ tally as she won the women’s fifty meters breaststroke category. Whereas, the women’s 500 meters butterfly event was won by England’s Fran Halsall. The English team clinched their second gold when
Liam Tancock won the men's 50 meters backstroke event. However, the biggest surprise was Scotland's Robbie Renwick victory that came out on top as he went onto take the gold in the 200 meters freestyle class.
Australia rounded off a perfect day by claiming another gold medal in women’s gymnastics, with rivals England finishing at second and Canada sitting at the third position. The Indians matched Australia’s tally of five gold medals on the day by outclassing
their opponents in the shooting event, much to the delight of their fans. Indian shooters Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang clinched gold medals in the men’s 10 meters air rifle pairs’ event. Abhinav Bindra, who won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, admitted
that there was a lot of pressure as the nations expectations were on his shoulders. In the 25 meters pistol pair category, India’s Anisa Syed and Rahi Sarnobat followed the success in the shooting event by shrugging off the challenge from the Australians.
The Indians were too good in the Greco Roman wrestling contest as the hosts swept the board by claiming three gold medals, proving too good for their opponents who never mounted a serious challenge. Though India are enjoying success in the medals table,
they have failed to attract spectators as the stadiums continue to remain empty which is a real concern as fans bring the best out of an athlete.
Suresh Kalmadi, the organising committee chief said that the situation was largely due to a lack of ticket booths. However, the chief claimed that the CWG Organising Committee has resolved the problem and soon, Indian fans will pour into the stadiums.
This is a shame for such a big nation who couldn’t plan and manage arrangements for one of the biggest multi sporting event of the world.
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