GLASGOW :

 

INDIAN judokas Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh created history by clinching country’s maiden gold medals in their respective weight categories at Commonwealth Games on Friday. However,Yamini Mourya had to settle for silver medal. This was after Lovpreet Singh shattered Games’ snatch record to claim silver in the men’s +110kg weightlifting competition on Thursday night. Asmita became the first ever Indian judoka to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games as she produced a spirited comeback to clinch the women’s -48kg title, defeating Canada’s Heidi Quach in a dramatic golden score contest here on Friday. Ever since the introduction of judo as a medal sport in CWG in the 1990 in Auckland, Indian judokas have won medals at all editions but never secured a top-of-the-podium finish. The 23-year-old Asmita from Tripura found herself on the back foot early in the final after conceding a yuko and then receiving a penalty, allowing Quach to take control of the bout. However, Asmita responded brilliantly, attacking with greater intent and levelling the scores at 1-1 shortly after the midway stage of the four-minute contest. Neither judoka could find the decisive score during regulation time despite a series of intense exchanges, forcing the match into the Golden Score period, where the first scoring action determines the winner.

 

Maintaining her composure under pressure, Asmita launched a decisive attack in sudden-death overtime and earned another yuko to seal a memorable victory and hand India the gold medal. Yamini, contesting in the women’s -57 kg final, went down to England’s Acelya Topark in a keenly contested final. Harsh followed Asmita to script his name in the history books by becoming the first male judoka from the country to win the title. He pulled off an upsets win over Australia’s vastly experienced Joshua Katz in the men’s -60kg final. The 23-year-old, competing in his maiden Commonwealth Games, claimed the biggest title of his career. After a closely fought contest in which neither judoka was able to establish a clear advantage, Harsh struck decisively with just 41 seconds remaining on the clock. He executed a superb waza-ari -- the second-highest scoring technique in judo -- to take the lead, and then defended resolutely for the remainder of the four-minute bout to secure a memorable victory. On Thursday night, Lovepreet shattered the Games snatch record and came agonisingly close to gold before finishing just a kilogramme behind New Zealand’s David Andrew Liti. The 28-year-old totalled 388kg (176kg in snatch and 212kg in clean and jerk).