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India endured a mixed bag of results in the opening half of Day 6 (according to IST) at the Commonwealth Games 2026, with moments of triumph and disappointment across athletics, weightlifting, swimming, para swimming and boxing. While Vishal TK and Preeti Pawar secured key advances, Srihari Nataraj progressed to the swimming semifinals, but Sajan Prakash missed out on a spot in the next round.
Nirupama Devi Seram narrowly missed a weightlifting medal, while several Indian athletes continued their medal chase as the action progressed in Glasgow, according to ESPN. Vishal clocked 46.49 seconds to finish second in his heat and comfortably clear the qualification mark of 46.62 seconds. The Indian sprinter, who earlier this year became the first athlete from the country to breach the 45-second barrier in the men's 400m, continued his impressive run of form to seal a semifinal berth. He was the 14th-fastest qualifier overall, with only Vishal and Jamaica's Amal Glasgow advancing from the heat, accoridng to ESPN. Rajesh Ramesh narrowly missed out on a semifinal spot in the men's 400m. Rajesh finished his heat with a time of 47.43 seconds, initially placing 12th overall with three heats remaining. However, five athletes went faster in the next heat, pushing him to 17th place and ending his campaign. Coming to the Indian weightlifter Nirupama Devi Seram, she missed out on a medal in the women's 63kg category after failing to register a successful lift in the clean and jerk round, according to ESPN. Nirupama entered the competition with strong medal hopes, with her projected total among the highest in the field. She began the event with a 93kg lift in the snatch after failing her opening attempt at the same weight. However, she could not clear 95kg in her final attempt and finished the snatch round in fifth place. The Indian lifter raised her clean and jerk starting weight from 115kg to 123kg in an attempt to challenge for a podium finish. However, all three attempts at 123kg ended unsuccessfully, leaving her with no valid mark in the second phase and ruling her out of medal contention. Sarah Davies Smale of England eventually topped the standings after producing a total of 217kg, while Nauru's Emily-Crystie Notte claimed silver with 216kg. Olympic champion Maude Charron secured gold with a dominant performance, finishing with a total of 232kg. Nirupama, who had won silver at the Commonwealth Championships last year with a 91kg snatch and 126kg clean and jerk, was unable to replicate that performance on the Glasgow stage. In swimming, Srihari Nataraj advanced to the men's 50m freestyle semifinals after finishing fifth in Heat 4 with a time of 55.58 seconds. He finished 1.46 seconds behind heat winner and gold medal favourite Pieter Coetze, but his performance was enough to secure qualification. Meanwhile, Sajan Prakash failed to make the semifinals of the men's 50m butterfly after finishing last in his heat with a time of 24.94 seconds. Sajan finished 28th overall among 70 swimmers, with a time faster than 24.25 seconds required to break into the top 16. India also enjoyed success in the para swimming events, with Karthik Budigina (26.33) and Ali Imam (28.41) qualifying for the men's 50m freestyle S13 final. Budigina finished sixth fastest in the heats, while Ali secured the eighth spot to book their places in the medal race. Meanwhile, Indian boxer Preeti Pawar delivered a dominant performance to defeat Northern Ireland's Nicole Clyde in the women's 54kg quarterfinal at the Commonwealth Games. Preeti controlled the bout from the opening round, landing a series of effective punches and forcing multiple standing counts from her opponent. She secured unanimous victories across all three rounds before winning the contest 5-0 on judges' scorecards. With the victory, Preeti has guaranteed herself a Commonwealth Games medal and will compete in the semifinals on Friday, aiming to go beyond bronze. While India have endured a mixed outing in the first half of Day 6 at the Commonwealth Games 2026, they still have several medal opportunities remaining. Harjinder Kaur will compete in the women's 69kg weightlifting final, while Pooja Singh will feature in the women's high jump final. Karthik Budigina and Ali Iman will battle for medals in the men's 50m freestyle S13 para swimming final, and Gulveer Singh will look to add to India's tally in the men's 10,000m final. India has so far won 10 medals -- two gold, five silver and three bronze. India's medal winners at the Games are Mirabai Chanu (gold, weightlifting), Sharmila Dhankar (gold, women's shot put F57), Rishikanta Singh (silver, weightlifting), Muthupandi Raja (silver, weightlifting), Gyaneshwari Yadav (silver, weightlifting), Sarvesh Kushare (silver, men's high jump), Valluri Ajaya Babu (silver, weightlifting), Bindyarani Devi (bronze, weightlifting), Shilpa Shyla (bronze, women's shot put F57) and Jhandu Kumar (bronze, para powerlifting). (ANI)
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