Vikas Gowda wins discus event

Vikas Gowda took the men’s discus throw gold medal on day five of the athletic events at Hampden Park on Thursday night.

The Karnataka athlete, who had got past the 64m-metre mark in the qualifiers on Wednesday, was unable to touch the distance in the final but still won on a canter as he hurled the disc to a distance of 63.64m, off his third effort.

Gowda is the second Indian male athlete, after Milkha Singh (who won the 440m yards title at the 1958 Games in Cardiff), to win a gold medal. He had taken the silver medal in New Delhi four years ago.

The 31-year-old had a series of 60.63m, 62.09, his winning distance, foul, 62.17m and foul in the final and was better than Apostolos Parellis (Cyprus), who had the lead briefly after the second round with 63.34 and Jason Morgan (Jamaica) who took bronze with a throw of 62.34m.

Tintu Luka, the other Indian seen in action, crashed out of the women’s 800m finishing seventh in the first semifinal of the event, with a time of 2:03.35.

Grenada’s first

Olympic champion Kirani James won Grenada its first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal, winning the men’s 400m with a lot to spare.

The fourth day’s athletics action also saw Valerie Adams (New Zealand) continue her supremacy in women’s shot put, Greg Rutherford cheer English hearts with the men’s long jump gold, and another clean sweep by Kenyan athletes in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.

The lanky Greg Rutherford, winner of the long jump in London 2012, earned a standing ovation as he added the CWG gold to his collection.

Rutherford opened the competition with a leap of 8.12m and then improved to 8.20m on his third attempt, which was enough to bury the rest of the field.

Valerie Adams remained the undisputed queen of the circle as she extended her unbeaten streak to 56, winning the women’s shot put for her third consecutive CWG gold.

The 29-year-old opened with a foul before finding her winning distance (19.88m) on her second attempt.

Borel Cleopatra (Trinidad and Tobago) took silver in 18.57m and Julie Labonte (Canada) the bronze in 17.58m.

There was no doubting the class of the Kenyans in the women’s 3000m steeplechase as Purity Cherotich Kirui, Milcah Chemos Cheywa and Joan Kipkemoi ensured a clean sweep. Kirui was timed at 9:30.96, Cheywa a season’s best of 9:31.30 and Kipkemoi at 9:33.34.

Annu Rani disappoints

India’s Annu Rani was mediocre, coming in eighth. The 24-year-old posted a series of 55.23m, 56.37m, 50.35m, 52.71m, foul and 54.52m.

The day also witnessed Brianne Theisen-Eaton (Canada) wrap up the heptathlon title returning a total of 6597 points ahead of compatriot Jessica Zelinka, who had a season’s best 6270, and England’s Jessica Taylor (personal best 5826).