MELBOURNE, March 22: India’s top marksman Samaresh Jung stole the limelight on Wednesday but Asian hockey players, weightlifters and boxers all stepped up to the mark, and there was rare success in the swimming pool. Jung moved closer to a record seven Commonwealth gold at a singles Games and a place in the history books by winning his fifth at the shooting ranges.

He took the men’s 10m Air Pistol individual competition title and shoots in the 25m Centre Fire Pistol event on Friday and the Standard Pistol title on Saturday.

If he wins both he will overtake Australian swimmers Ian Thorpe and Susie O’Neill who have taken six gold medals each at a Games.

India’s chief coach Sunny Thomas said the entire team was excited.

Jung tallied 685.4 points to surpass the Games record of 679.9 set by Michael Gault of England at Kuala Lumpur in 1998. Teammate Vivek Singh took silver.

India has proved to be the best shooting nation in the Commonwealth, taking 12 golds so far from 29 events held.

Another Indian, Sanjeev Rajput, won bronze in the men’s 50m Rifle Prone title, while teammate Manavjit Singh was third in the Men’s Trap Final.

After six days at the pool empty handed, the region at last found itself on the podium after Malaysia’s Ken Yeoh performed magnificently in the one metre springboard diving to earn himself silver.

Also in the medals was Geeta Rani of India who emerged as the Commonwealth Games strongest woman when she clinched the 75kg super-heavyweight weightlifting gold.

The 24-year-old police officer heaved a massive 241kg to beat compatriot Simple Kaur Bhumrah by one kilo.

Malaysia’s Che Mohd Azrol Che Mat also got himself a medal, in the men’s 105kg category, taking bronze behind Akos Sandor of Canada and Valeriane Sarava of Australia.

The region’s best badminton stars made a strong start to keeping the men’s and singles titles in Asia with Malaysian world No.2 Lee Chong Wei and Singapore’s defending champion Li Li cruising to easy wins in the round of 32.

Lee, who already has one gold to his name in the mixed team event, demolished South Africa’s Dorian James 21-7, 21-6 in an ominous warning to his rivals.

In the women’s draw, Li Li brushed aside Nigella Saunders of Jamaica 21-12, 21-5.—AFP

Medals table

G S B T

Australia 57 51 45 153

England 22 28 22 72

India 16 11 7 34

Canada 14 22 17 53

Scotland 10 7 9 26

South Africa 9 4 10 23

Jamaica 5 2 3 10

New Zealand 4 5 12 21

Malaysia 3 4 5 12

Wales 3 1 7 11

Nigeria 2 4 2 8

Kenya 2 3 1 6

Ghana 2 0 0 2

Singapore 1 2 3 6

Cyprus 1 1 2 4

Papua New Guinea 1 1 0 2

Isle Of Man 1 0 1 2

Pakistan 1 0 1 2

Sri Lanka 1 0 0 1

Tanzania 1 0 0 1

Uganda 1 0 0 1

Bahamas 0 2 0 2

Northern Ireland 0 2 0 2

Cameroon 0 1 2 3

Bangladesh 0 1 0 1

Botswana 0 1 0 1

Grenada 0 1 0 1

Malta 0 1 0 1

Nauru 0 1 0 1

Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 3 3

Fiji 0 0 1 1

Namibia 0 0 1 1

Seychelles 0 0 1 1