Krishna Poonia has ended a 52-year-old Commonwealth Games athletics gold medal drought for host nation India, claiming the women’s discus title.

Becoming the first woman to win a Commonwealth Games gold for her country in the athletics arena, Poonia took the title with a throw of 61.51 metres.
 
Pictured: Harwant Kaur, Krishna Poonia, and Seema Antil celebrate their medal success

India completed the clean sweep in the event with Harwant Kaur and national record holder Seema Antil winning the silver and bronze medals respectively.
 
The title was the first gold for Indian in athletics since ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh’s 440 Yard Race title in Cardiff in 1958.

Indian athletes have now claimed a total of 31 gold medals, second only to the Australian tally of 64 golds.

Badminton

Further success is also on the horizon, with the hosts making it to the semi-final stages of the men’s singles and women’s singles in the badminton competition at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

Leading the assault is women’s singles top seed Saina Nehwal, who eased into the last four with an easy two sets win over Canada’s Anna Rice.

Nehwal will now play Elizabeth Cann of England.

Not to be outdone, 23-year old Kashyap Parupalli, the sixth seed in the men’s singles, outfought Malaysia’s Muhammad Hafiz Hashim in three games to go into the semi-finals.

Parupalli will be joined by teammate Chetan Anand who took care of England’s Carl Baxter in their quarter-final.

World Travel Awards

As day nine of Commonwealth Games competition comes to a close, attention is turning to the next event on the Delhi tourism calendar – the World Travel Awards.

Taking place in conjunction with the closing ceremony of the games on October 14th, the WTA Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony will welcome the elite of the regional tourism industry to The Claridges Surajkund.