Sudhir wins gold in para powerlifting, Sreeshankar wins silver in men's long jump, Rohit Tokas wins India's seventh medal in boxing

India's Sudhir won the gold medal in the men's heavyweight para powerlifting, the last event of the day (evening) of the Commonwealth Games.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sudhir, who is affected by the effects of polio, opened the Indian Parasport medal account at the ongoing games in Birmingham.

Asian Para Games bronze medalist Sudhir lifted 208 kg in his first attempt and increased it to 212 kg in his second attempt to score 134.5 points and break the games record.

Hailing from Sonipat, Haryana, Sudhir contracted polio at the age of four. He did not allow his handicap to stand in the way of his determination. He had a lifelong interest in sports, which led to his interest in weightlifting. He started his sports career in 2013 and in 2016 won a gold medal in his first national representation. He made his international debut in 2018 at the 2018 Asian Para Games and won a bronze medal. Unfortunately, his father died the same day he won the medal. He completed his BA in Sanskrit from MDU Rohtak. He is currently working as Senior Trainer (Weightlifting) for Haryana Govt.

He was also named "Strong Man of India" at the 17th Senior and 12th Junior National Para Powerlifting Championships in 2018.

Historic silver for Sreeshankar

M Sreeshankar won a historic silver medal. He became the first Indian to win a silver medal in men's long jump in CWG history.

Sreeshankar's silver was the best among Indian long jumpers at the CWG. Suresh Babu won the bronze in 1978. In women, Prajusha Maliakkal won the silver in 2010 in Delhi, while the legendary Anju Bobby George won the bronze in 2002.

The 23-year-old national record holder cleared 8.08m on his fifth attempt to finish second behind Bahamas' Laquan Nairn in a closely contested men's long jump final.

Sreeshankar went into the CWG as the gold medal favorite based on his season and personal best of 8.36m, which ranks him second in the world this season. But in his first four jumps, he had trouble landing his footing. He was without a medal at the end of the fourth round, at which point he was in sixth place, but a fifth attempt of 8.08m put him in second place.

Nairn also had a best jump of 8.08 m, but his second best jump of 7.98 m was better than Sreeshankar's 7.84 m. According to the rules, if two jumpers are at the same distance, the one with the second best effort is placed ahead.

The bronze was taken by Jovan van Vuuren (8.06 m) from the Republic of South Africa. Another Indian in contention Muhammed Anees Yahiya finished fifth with a best jump of 7.97m. Tokas promised another medal in boxing

Rohit Tokas reached the 67kg semi-finals to confirm India's seventh medal in boxing.

Rohit Tokas, who turned 29 on August 1, scored a 5-0 win over Niue's Xavier Mata'afa-Ikinof.

Tokas attacks from the start, barely letting Xavier attack and filling him with a dominant finish in the opening round.

He also began to dictate the proceedings in the second round. The Niue boxer is no match for India, who are technically superior. In the second round, he even let his guard down and challenged Xavier to attack, but he was useless to the latter.