Weight Lifter P.Guru Raja wins Silver medal in Commonwealth Games

On the first day of competitions at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games today, India began their campaign with a Silver Medal in Weightlifting. In the 56 kilogram category, P Gururaja lifted a total weight of 249 kg to finish second in the event. The 25-year old Gururaja equalled his personal best. Malaysia took the Gold, while Sri Lanka settled for the Bronze.

In Badminton, the star-studded Indian Badminton team defeated Sri Lanka in Group A of the mixed team championship. Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikkanth won their respective singles matches, while the pairs of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Ruthvika Gadde, Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy emerged winners in the



Doubles to help India beat Sri Lanka, 5-0.

In Table Tennis as well, India made a winning start by beating Sri Lanka. After paddlers Manika Batra and Sutirtha Mukherjee won their the singles fixtures, Pooja Sahasrabudhe and Sutirtha Mukherjee emerged winners in the Doubles.

However, in Women's Hockey, India made a disappointing start. The team went down 2-3 to Wales, after trailing for most of the Group A clash. The Indian team is chasing its first Commonwealth Games medal after the 2006 Melbourne Games Silver. The women have been finishing fifth for the last two editions of the Games. India women will take on Malaysia in their second group match tomorrow.