Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh boosted India’s medal hopes by claiming a third consecutive win in the women’s doubles section. Their hard-fought victory over Tonga keeps them unbeaten in Section B alongside England, with the race for the knockout stages still finely balanced. However, Putul Sonowal’s men’s singles campaign suffered a setback after he lost to unbeaten Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple of Malaysia. The defeat left the Indians second in their group and they will rely on other results to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
India celebrated another positive result in boxing as Sachin Siwach defeated Canada’s Keoma Al-Ahmadieh to advance to the men’s 60kg round of 16. His victory followed Jadumani Singh’s opening success, giving the Indian boxing contingent an encouraging start to the competition.
The artistic gymnastics team narrowly missed medal contention after finishing fifth in their subdivision. Despite the team’s disappointment, Olympians Pranati Nayak and Protistha Samanta remained in contention for spots in the individual lap final.
Indian swimmers Aryan Nehra and Dhakshan Shashikumar failed to advance to the men’s 400m freestyle final, while the women’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball team suffered a heavy opening defeat against Wales.
With only one medal so far through Jhandu Singh’s bronze in para powerlifting, India now turn their attention to an engagement on Sunday. Olympic medalist Mirabai Chanu will start her weightlifting campaign as one of India’s strongest gold medal hopes. Rishikanta Singh and M Raja will also compete in the medal events, while Preeti Pawar, Aditya Pratap Yadav and Jadumani Singh will compete in boxing. India will also be represented in swimming, artistic gymnastics and lawn bowls as the contingent looks to build momentum and increase its medal tally at the Games.