New Delhi: It was a Tuesday to remember as India's cricketers, shooters and wrestlers put the nation on top of the world sporting stage with performances that ranged from being nothing short of a miracle to pure magic.
Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang shot a gold in the 10m Air Rifle pairs event at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range here on Tuesday morning to give India its first gold in the 19th Commonwealth Games. En route, they notched up a Games record of 1193 of a maximum possible 1200. The mood for the day had been set.
About 250 km away from the Games venue, it was a completeley different scene as India's Men in Blue battled to save their reputation as the No. 1 Test team. You could cut the tension with a knife as every run became an occassion, but in the end VVS Laxman helped India achieve the miracle in Mohali as the team held on from an improbable situation to bring up a one-wicket win over the Australians. Yet again, Laxman's bat had become the magic wand!
Meanwhile, a similar nerve-wracking event unfolded at the shooting range in Delhi as Rahi Sarnobat and Anisa Sayeed came from behind to pip the Australian pair and win India its second gold in the women's 25m pistol pairs event. The duo bettered the eight-year-old mark of 1150 by Australia's Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Lindia Ryan.
Two gold and a Test win over Australia. It was time to declare a public holiday!
But India's athletes had bigger plans. And When Anil Kumar won the gold in the 96 kg Greco Roman wrestling event this evening, it completed India's clean sweep of the golds on offer in the event on Tuesday.
The two silver medals were earned by Deepak Sharma and Omkar Singh, in the men's 50m pistol pairs event, and the woman's duo of world champion Tejaswini Sawant and Lajjakumari Gauswami, who stood second in the pairs 50m rifle 3 position.
The men's hockey squad, aiming to break the medal drought in previous Games, began their bid with a 3-2 victory over Malaysia in their group-A lung-opener.
At the end of Day 2, India stands at 5-4-2 just behind Australia's, who is leading the tally with 9-9-5 while England were third with 2-6-4 followed by Malaysia (2-2-1) and South Africa (2-2-1) in that order.
India will look to carry on the good work on Day 3 and add more golds to their tally in an attempt to inch closer to Australia who are currently the leaders of the pack. While the Indian cricket team will resume their battle with the Aussies in the second Test, they will hope that their fellow countrymen do the same in the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
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