C'Wealth Games: India or England — the race hots up for second spot-Thursday, Oct 14, 2010,

C'Wealth Games: India or England — the race hots up for second spot

Published: Thursday, Oct 14, 2010, 1:47 IST

(JO JEETA WAHI SIKANDER,BUT OUR GOOD WISHES TO INDIA...VIBHA)

By Mihir Vasavda | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

It’s all down to the final day. After a week full of pulsating action, it looks like India is losing its grip in the medals table.

At the end of the penultimate day, England are way ahead in terms of overall medal’s tally. They boast of 138 medals compared to India’s 96. But the hosts’ target will be to win more gold medals than England and seal the second position.

With a rush of gold medals on Wednesday (seven, to be precise), England managed to pip India in the overall standing, finishing the day with 37 gold medals. India, despite a hat-trick of titles in the boxing ring and one in table tennis, trail by one gold. Australia, with 71 gold, are one short of the combined gold tally of India and England.

Now the question is can India regain the second position they held for so long? On Thursday, there are six golds up for grabs — marathon, badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, hockey, netball and table tennis. India and England don’t feature in the gold medal matches of netball and table tennis. Both look highly unlikely to challenge the Africans in marathon.

In badminton, India look set for two gold medals. Saina Nehwal is the favourite to clinch singles title while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have upper hand in the women’s doubles final. England, however, features in the remaining three finals but have a 50-50 chance in mixed doubles.

In the presence of Australia, Canada and England, India stand little chance to win gold in rhythmic gymnastics. England, though, will have to stave off competition from Australia. Looks like neither of the countries will win a gold here.

If India wins two gold in badminton, and England win the mixed doubles, the gold tally will be equal. In that case England, with more medals, clinch the second spot. So it may all boil down to hockey.

If India manage to stun Australia in the final, then they can seal the second place. Else England will go home as the second sporting country in the Commonwealth. Another milestone that India will eye is 100 medals. They currently have 96.