Lovlina Borgohain sealed India’s first 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games medal when, on Thursday – the first day of the quadrennial event — she got a first-round bye in the 75kg women’s boxing, which sent her into the semis and sealed at least a bronze for her and her country. Lovlina will now face the 20-year-old Taafaki in the semifinals on July 31.
In the last CWG games in Birmingham, India finished fourth on the medal tally with 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze, and they hope to improve on that in a big way this time around. India’s best performance came in the Games in 2010 when they hosted the event in New Delhi. The host nation finished with 101 medals that included 39 gold, 26 silver, and 36 bronze.
In another good result for the Indians on Thursday, India beat Malta in a tense tie-break in the Women’s Pairs event. The Indian pair of Rupa Rani Tirkey (lead) and Pinki Singh (skip) dished out a dominant show in the first set, winning it 7-1 and going up 1-0 in the opening round match in section B at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Hall 3. But the Maltese duo of Rebecca Louise Rixon (lead) and Connie-Leigh Rixon (skip) fought back to take the second set 3-4. In the nervy tie-break, the Indians were lagging behind their opponents before Pinky sent down a fine effort in the last bowl and won the match.
The second day of the event is going to start in a few hours from now, and there are a lot of Indians in the fray today. There is a para-powerlifting event that will kick off after midnight. There are quite a few medal events today for the Indians, which means there is plenty to look forward to. Following is the July 24 schedule for Indian athletes. Please note that all schedule details are subject to change as per the CWG official website.
2:30 pm: Gymnastics – Tapeshwarnath Das, Swathish KP, Tapan Mohanty, and Yogeshwar Singh in men’s team and individual rounds
3:40 pm: Para Swimming — RVVBK Budigina in men’s 100m freestyle S13 followed by the final later in the night
3:56 pm: Swimming — Srihari Nataraj in 50m backstroke heats followed by semifinals later in the day
5:40 pm: Powerlifting — Ashok Kumar Malik and Parmjeet Kumar in the men’s lightweight category (medal event)
7:24 pm: Powerlifting — Jaspreet Kaur and Suman Devi in the women’s lightweight category (medal event)
7:30 pm: Lawn bowls — Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh vs South Africa’s Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui van Rensburg in the women’s pairs sectional round 2 match
10 pm: Gymnastics — Men’s team final (medal event)
10:30 pm: Lawn bowls — Putul Sonowal vs Falkland Islands’ Cecil Alexander in the men’s singles sectional round 2 match
10:40 pm: Powerlifting — Kasthuri Rajamani in the women’s heavyweight category
11 pm: Boxing — Jadumani Singh vs Scotland’s Aaron Cullen in men’s 55 kg Round of 32 match
12:29 am: Para Powerlifting — Jhandu Kumar and Sudhir in the men’s heavyweight category (medal event)
(with inputs from PTI and ESPN.in)
