Commonwealth Games: Hockey girls stun world no 2 England

Gold Coast: Five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom (48kg) assured herself of a medal on her Commonwealth Games debut after advancing to the semi-finals, while Vikas Krishan (75kg) entered the men’s quarters here on Sunday.

The 35-year-old Mary sailed past Scotland’s Megan Gordon 5-0, assuring the Indian boxing contingent of their first CWG medal.

Mary Kom will face Sri Lanka’s Anusha Dilrukshi in the semi-final on April 11. Krishan also claimed a unanimous 5-0 victory over Australia’s Campbell Somerville.

India’s badminton mixed team entered the final with a 3-1 win over Singapore. India will take on three-time champions Malaysia — who beat England 3-0 — in the final on Monday.

Saina Nehwal took down Jia Min Yeo 21-8, 21-15 to steer the side through after a shock loss in men’s doubles.

Mixed doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Yong Kai Terry Hee and Jia Ying Crystal Wong 20-22, 18-21. In the second game, the men’s doubles pairing of Satwik and Chirag Shetty lost to Terry Hee and Danny Bawa Chrisnanta 21-17, 19-21, 12-21. K. Srikanth had provided the team with a 2-0 cushion with his singles win over Kean Yew Loh 21-17, 21-14.

The Indian women’s hockey team rallied from a goal down to script a stunning 2-1 triumph over Olympic champions England in their third Pool A match.

India are now second on the points table behind England and look set to qualify for the semi-finals. Gurjit Kaur and Navneet Kaur sounded the board for India in the 42nd and 48th minutes after England captain Alexandra Danson had put them ahead just 35 seconds into the game.

Later, the men’s team posted a hard-fought 4-3 win over Wales 4-3 to collect full points.

In athletics, Tejinder Singh advanced to the shot put finals and Muhammed Anas Yahiya entering the men’s 400m semi-final.

Earlier, race walkers Khushbir Kaur and Manish Singh finished creditable fourth and sixth respectively in the 20km race.