India look towards shooters, lifters for more medals

India, who broke open the gold medal chest with a haul of five yellow metals on Tuesday, once again would look up to their star-packed shooting squad and lifters to boost their medals tally in the Commonwealth Games today. Special

India, who broke open the gold medal chest with a haul of five yellow metals on Tuesday, once again would look up to their star-packed shooting squad and lifters to boost their medals tally in the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.

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The Games hosts looked well on way to achieve their target in the multi-sport spectacle as the second-best country
on day two yesterday when shooters and grapplers combined to give them five gold medals as well as two silver medals for a two-day tally of 5 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze.

Australia, as projected before the Games, are leading the bunch with a 8-9-4 medal haul going into the third day's
competitions. They ended the day with 9-9-5.

After grabbing the pairs gold, top marksmen Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang would compete against each other for
the individual title in the 10m air rifle.

Similar would be the predicament faced by women pistol shooters Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayyed who nailed the gold in the 25m pairs event as they will line up as opponents at the Dr Karni Singh range.

Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh would also be fighting against one another for the individual medals in the 50m
pistol after clinching the silver in the pairs event on Tuesday.

Top-notch trap shooter Ronjan Sondhi is to combine forces with Asher Noria in the men's double trap pairs
contest.

In weightlifting, Renu Bala Chanu (women's 58 kg) and Ravi Kumar Kutulu (men's 69 kg) would be in the thick of
action.

The opening day of athletics action at the showpiece Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has a few Indian athletes ready for
action, including women quarter milers Mandeep and Manjit Kaur, shot putters Om Prakash Singh and Sourabh Vij and long distance runners Sandip Kumar and Sunil Kumar (men's 5000m).

Indians' campaign would continue in team events of badminton, table tennis and archery as well as in tennis (singles and doubles) and boxing (Jai Bhagwan - 60kg, Dilbag Singh - 69kg preliminary rounds).

In women's hockey India would be up against formidable Australia in their second Group A match.