Glasgow, July 30 (IANS) On a superb evening in which Murali Sreeshankar, Dilip Gavit and Mohammed Basil won medals for India, the country’s leading female shot-putter Manpreet Kaur narrowly missed the bronze medal in the women’s shot put final in the Commonwealth Games 2026.
There was another setback for the country as top distance racer Parul Chaudhary, the Asian Games medallist, managed to finish fifth in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase.
It was Manpreet who suffered a heartbreak as she was in bronze position till the last round of throws, with Canada’s Sarah Mitton establishing an early lead with a throw of 18.50m in his first throw.
Manpreet started with 15.92 and improved to 17.49m with his best throw in the fifth round, which put her in third position. However, Jamaica’s Lloydricia Cameron upstaged her with a throw of 17.87m on her final turn. The throw put Cameron on par with Nigeria’s Jessica Oji on 17.87m. She lost out on the silver medal on countback as Oji had produced her best throw in the third round.
Manpreet had a chance of upstaging them on her final throw, but she fouled out and missed the medal. Sarah Mitton won the gold medal by nearly two metres with a best throw of 19.88m.
In the women’s 3000m Steeplechase, Parul Chaudhary clocked 9:26.75 and finished fifth as Faith Cherotich of Kenya won the gold medal in a Games Record time of 9:01.76. Elise Thorner of England produced her personal best as she surged past Uganda’s Persuth Chemutai to take the silver medal with a time of 9:05.45.
Parul was in the lead group early on but fell behind through the middle stages. She did try to produce a kick in the final lap, but the gap was too big to bridge.
Overall, it was a good day for India as Murali Sreeshankar won silver in the men’s long jump while Dilip Mahadu Gavit clinched the gold medal with a Games Record in the men’s 100m T47, while compatriot Mohammed Basil Morssinganakathi secured the silver medal to complete a dominant Indian one-two.
–IANS
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