BIRMINGHAM: Australia demolished India 7-0 in the men’s hockey final on Monday to maintain their perfect record at the Commonwealth Games and end their gold medal hunt in style.
The six-time defending champions showed their opponents no mercy in tough conditions on the final day of sporting action in Birmingham.
Australia has won every gold medal in men’s hockey since the sport joined the Commonwealth Games program in 1998.
The dominant Australians were 2-0 up after the first quarter and Jacob Anderson’s two goals made it 5-0 after 30 minutes.
Nathan Ephraums scored his second to make it 6-0 and Flynn Ogilvie ended the rout early in the final quarter.
Australia’s Blake Govers said the team had saved their best performance until the end.
This is what we pride ourselves on,” he said. “It’s great to be able to do this without a lot of heart problems. We had to play with confidence and play forward and start the game from the start, and that’s what we did. This is the difference between the two games [final and semi-final against England].” Hosts England beat South Africa 6-3 to take the bronze medal.
Australia topped the medals table with 67 medals – 10 ahead of England. Canada is third with 26 gold medals and India with 22.
The closing ceremony takes place at the Alexander Stadium later on Monday, ending 11 days of sporting action at the 22nd Commonwealth Games.
Elsewhere on Monday, Scotland’s James Heatly and Grace Reid won the 3m synchronized mixed final, with England pair Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix taking gold in the 10m event.
India celebrated a golden double in badminton.
World number seven PV Sindhu won the women’s event, defeating Canada’s Michelle Li while Lakshya Sen beat Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong to win the men’s gold.
India’s Sharath Kamal Achanta defeated England’s Liam Pitchford 4-1 in the men’s table tennis gold medal match.
The best two weeks of my 40 years of life,” said the winner, who won three golds and a silver in Birmingham. “It can’t get any better.”
Birmingham 2022 CEO Ian Reid said the Games had been a huge boost for the city and surrounding area.
He said more than 1.5 million tickets had been sold, with most seats above 90 percent capacity.
One of the goals at the beginning was to put the city on the world map and instill that great pride in everyone who lives in the region, and I think we’ve achieved that,” he told a news conference on Monday. I think this can lead to much bigger and bigger things.”
On Sunday, Australia won the first women’s cricket gold medal in Commonwealth Games history as Scotland’s Laura Muir won the 1500m title on the final night of athletics.
Elsewhere, England women won gold in hockey and Australia beat Jamaica in the netball final.
Popular favorites Australia held their nerve to beat India by nine runs in a Twenty20 thriller in front of a huge Edgbaston crowd and celebrated on the field as the lights went out across the stadium.
It’s absolutely huge,” said left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen. We are blessed enough to be part of several World Cup winning teams, but to win the first gold medal for women’s cricket at the Commonwealth Games, you only do it once.”
The win underlined the dominance of Australia’s women, who are also world champions in the 20-over and 50-over formats.
Muir ended her Commonwealth Games campaign with a flourish by winning gold in the 1500m at the Alexander Stadium.
The 29-year-old’s team-mate, 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan, just fell short in her bid for a memorable double, finishing second to Kenya’s impressive world silver medalist Beatrice Chebet in the women’s 5,000m.
Muir, who won bronze in the 800m on Saturday, struck for glory before the bell and ran a fairly moderate field – missing two-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon – ragged, clocking 4min 02.75sec.
Wyclife Kinyamal defended his men’s 800m crown in 1:47.52. It has been an impressive turnaround for the 25-year-old, who finished last in the world championship final in July.
New Zealand cyclist Aaron Gate won the men’s road race to claim his fourth Commonwealth Games gold medal. In the women’s event, Australia’s Georgia Baker won her third gold medal of the games.
England won hockey gold for the first time after holding off an Australian fightback to win 2-1.
Second-quarter goals from Holly Hunt and Tess Howard ultimately proved decisive 24 hours after the men’s team had suffered a heartbreaking semi-final defeat at the hands of Australia.
There was more joy for Australia in the netball competition, with a 55-51 victory over Jamaica in the final.
Australia also excelled at the Sandwell Aquatic Centre. Cassiel Rousseau won the men’s 10m platform title and Maddison Keeney won her second gold medal of the games in the women’s 3m springboard.
England’s Delicious Orie won super heavyweight gold on a busy night of boxing, defeating India’s Sagar Ahlawat.
India won three more gold medals in boxing, but Northern Ireland took five, including a special double for Aidan Walsh and his sister Michaela.
Final ranking
Tabulated under (position, country, gold, silver, bronze, total medals) 1 Australia 67 57 54 178
2 England 57 66 53 176
3 Canada 26 32 34 92
4 India 22 16 23 61 5 New Zealand 20 12 17 49
6 Scotland 13 11 27 51
7 Nigeria 12 9 14 35
8 Wales 8 6 14 28
9 South Africa 7 9 11 27
10 Malaysia 7 8 8 23
11 Northern Ireland 7 7 4 18
12 Jamaica 6 6 3 15
13 Kenya 6 5 10 21
14 Singapore 4 4 4 12
15 Trinidad and Tobago
16 Uganda 3 0 2 5
17 Cyprus 2 3 6 11
18 Pakistan 2 3 3 8
19 Samoa 1 4 0 5
20 Barbados 1 1 1 3
20 Cameroon 1 1 1 3
20 Zambia 1 1 1 3
23 Grenada 1 1 0 2
23 Bahamas 1 1 0 2
25 Bermuda 1 0 1 2
26 British Virgin Islands 1 0 0 1
27 Mauritius 0 3 2 5
28 Ghana 0 2 3 5
29 Fiji 0 2 2 4
30 Mozambique 0 2 1 3
31 Sri Lanka 0 1 3 4
32 United Republic of Tanzania 0 1 2 3
33 Botswana 0 1 1 2
33 Guernsey 0 1 1 2
35 Dominica 0 1 0 1
35 Papua New Guinea 0 1 0 1
35 Saint Lucia 0 1 0 1
35 Gambia 0 1 0 1
39 Namibia 0 0 4 4
40 Malta 0 0 1 1
40 Nauru 0 0 1 1
40 Niue 0 0 1 1
40 Vanuatu 0 0 1 1
Published in Agim, August 9, 2022
