India lifts Commonwealth Games Gloom, Strikes Gold

India finally lifted the Commonwealth Games gloom on Sunday as a wave of patriotic emotion super-charged their gold medal count and sparked a seven-goal rout of bitter hockey rivals Pakistan.

After a week of depressing tales of corruption, botched organization and embarrassing blunders, the country’s athletes clicked into gear.

Somdev Devvarman clinched men’s tennis gold, 800m runner Tintu Luka brought the house down at the track with a blistering qualifying run, while a 19,000 crowd roared India to a 7-3 win over Pakistan and a place in the hockey semi-finals.

The hosts also won more gold in shooting and wrestling, with national poster boy Sushil Kumar, a rare world champion in the country, cruising to 66kg gold.

By the end of the day, India had won 29 gold to England’s 26, striking a crucial blow in their cat-and-mouse duel to finish runners-up to Australia.

At a jam-packed Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, and with members of the country’s political elite looking on, Sandeep Singh starred as India trounced Pakistan to storm into the semi-finals of the hockey in a do-or-die encounter.

Faced with the prospect of elimination before the knock-out rounds, India responded in style to set up a semi-final showdown against England, with world champions Australia set to face New Zealand.

“All credit to the crowd,” India coach Jose Brasa said. “Their support was tremendous, something I have never seen before in any match.”

Devvarman became the first Commonwealth Games men’s tennis champion, cruising to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Greg Jones of Australia.

The top seed’s win had local fans on their feet, 24 hours after the despair of seeing glamor girl Sania Mirza lose the women’s final.

“A gold medal is tough to come by. I’m happy I got mine. I’ve worked really hard,” Devvarman said.

Out at a packed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where the Games’ ticketing woes are slowly being addressed, Tintu Luka won the the third semi-final of the 800m, bringing more than 50,000 people to their feet in expectation of a rare track gold in the final.

Source: Taipeitimes.com

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