Commonwealth Games Day 2 Highlights: Jhandu Kumar wins bronze medal

Jhandu Kumar is the first medallist for India at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. He won bronze in men's heavyweight para powerlifting.

India was without a medal late into Day 2 of the 2026 Commonwealth Games until Bihar’s Jhandu Kumar opened the country’s account in Glasgow with a bronze in men’s heavy weight para powerlifting. Competing in Group B, Jhandu registered 130.9 points, which kept him in the lead for a large part of the subsequent lifts in Group A. England’s Matt Harding first dislodged him from the gold medal spot with his second attempt before Nigeria’s Riluwan Idris took the spot with his own second round lift, pushing Jhandu down to third. That remained the top three at the end of the event as well.

Jadumani Mandengbam has breezed into the round of 16 in the men’s 55kg boxing. Srihari Nataraj qualified from the 50m backstroke semi-finals, where his journey ended after a seventh-placed finish. In women’s lightweight para powerlifting, Jaspreet Kaur and Suman Devi fells short of medal contention. Meanwhile, men’s lightweight para powerlifter Ashok fell just short of a bronze medal finishing 4th after registering 143.8 points, his personal best. The other Indian in the same category, Parmjeet Kumar finished 6th.

The day started with another doping-related blow for India after judoka Tulika Maan was suspended for three whereabouts failures in the last 12 months. Maan was a silver winner at Birmingham 2022 and consequently one of India’s top medal bets for Glasgow. India have also seen two setbacks before the Opening Ceremony. Judoka Arun Kumar, who competes in the 78 kg category, was was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) while weightlifter Dilbagh Singh had to return from Glasgow since India’s quote of athletes had to be slashed for doping violations. The Indian contingent’s medals tally is already off, thanks to Lovlina Borgohain being assured a medal before a punch being thrown thanks to her getting a bye in her competition that sees her compete directly in the semi-finals.

Scroll down for highlights from day 2 of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Ah... it ain't a multisport event if a major medal doesn't come in the wee hours of a day. With each event that went by, it started looking increasingly likely that India will have to wait another day to open its account in Glasgow. But Jhandu Kumar kicked it open right at the end with a performance so good, it kept him in the top three over the course of an hour after his last lift. That's it for today but come back tomorrow afternoon, we will have a fresh, sparkly new blog up for you to catch the day's events. It's the first weekend of Glasgow 2026!

India's Tapan Mohanty and Yogeshwar Singh qualified for the men's all-around final after finishing 17th and 18th respectively. India have finished seventh in the team event. Canada took gold, England won silver and bronze went to Australia.

Yes, Lovlina Borgohain is already assured of a medal but that is only a technicality. She is yet to truly "win" and hold that medal in her hands, and we are yet to know its colour. For all means and purposes, Jhandu Kumar is rightfully the first Indian medallist at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. A remarkable achievement for the 29-year-old who hails from Harnaut in Nalanda district, Bihar. The son of a vegetable vendor, Jhandu had been affected by polio since birth. He began his sporting career in 2017 as a para athletics athlete, competing in the F55 shot put and discus throw events, where he won several district and state-level medals. During this period, strength training in the gym sparked his interest in powerlifting. Following a recommendation at a state championship, he switched to para powerlifting.

Although he failed to register a successful lift at his first National Championship, Paralympic bronze medallist Rajinder Singh Rahelu identified his potential and invited him to train at the Sports Authority of India National Centre of Excellence (NCOE), Gandhinagar. Under Rahelu's guidance, Jhandu rapidly progressed and in 2025, he set a new National Record with a 205kg lift at the National Championships and improved it further to 206 kg at the Khelo India Para Games. His outstanding performances earned him a bronze medal at the Beijing World Cup 2025, followed by another bronze at the Asian & Oceania Championships 2026, and qualification for the Commonwealth Games 2026. He is now preparing with the long-term goal of winning a medal for India at the Los Angeles Paralympic Games 2028.

India's first medallist of these Commonwealth Games is Jhandu Kumar of Bihar! He remarkably registered 130.9 points in Group B, which was good enough to keep him in the medal places, even in the lead for a majority of the time that Group A was underway. Sudhir has finished sixth with 114.1 points.

Sudhir attempted as much as 211kg, up from the 182kg he attemped first time and 183kg he went for in the second. Nearly 30kg up, huge gamble, and it doesn't pay off. It is a failed lift but this also means...

Wow, Riluwan Idris with a big lift of 208kg with his second attempt and that takes him to 132.8 points. He jumps well above Harding and Jhandu with that and is in the gold medal spot now.

Matthew Harding of England pushes his points tally to 131.0 with his second attempt and that takes him to the gold medal spot! Jhandu (131.0) is second for now.

Sudhir is out of the medal places for now but Jhandu Kumar remains in gold medal position. Nigeria's Riluwan Idris is the new entrant in the top three for now from this group, he is third.

Now then, Sudhir to take centre stage for India in Group A. He goes for a 182kg lift first up and he is succesfull. He registers 113.5 points in his first attempt.

Meanwhile, these are the Group A standings, Jhandu Kumar right on top of the pile.

His third attempt is 196kg which would have allowed him to break the Games record. But he touches the rung right at the end of the lift there, goes off with a smile though. He has finished top of Group B with 130.9 points, which is a very good shout indeed for a medal.

He goes for 190kg and he lifts it. That takes him to a 130.9 points and he stays on top of the standings in Group B going into the final round.

Men's heavyweight para powerlifting final

A fantastic first lift from Jhandu Kumar has left him top of the pile in Group B with 124.7 points. He lifted 181kg with his first attempt and it looks like he might be going for 190kg for his second. Australia's Ben Wright is second and the only one to have not registered a foul lift in the group.

Nataraj is out of the qualification spots. He finishes seventh in SF 2 with a time of 25.29 seconds. Pieter Cotzee of South Africa won the it with a games record time of 24.29s.

Jhandu Kumar in Men’s Heavyweight's para powerlifting and he has raced to the top of the standings with a lift of 181 kg in his first attempt.

All right, as stated earlier, India have two athletes in the men's heavyweight powerlifting event. Group B is underway first and that has Jhandu Kumar. Sudhir is in Group A.

All right then, over to the TollCross Swimming Centre swimming centre where Srihari Nataraj will represent India in the men's 50m backstroke semifinal. Semi-final 1 is underway at the moment, Nataraj is in semi-final 2.

There are still two more events remaining that will be involving Indians today, one of which could potentially produce a medal. Srihari Nataraj will be in action at 12.29am in the men's 50m backstroke swimming semifinals. At exactly the same time, men's heavyweight para powerlifting gets underway at the SEC Armadillo. Sudhir will be in Group A while Jhandu Kumar will be in Group B.

Budigina was fifth at the halfway mark. He then put in a fantastic kick for the second half. Couldn't get a medal though, with Mathew Redfern outswimming him. Budgina finished fourth with a time of 57.57 seconds. Imam, meanwhile, finishes seventh with a time of 1:03.73.

The men's 100m S13 final is set to get underway at the TollCross Swimming Centre and India are being represented by Karthik Budigina and Ali Imam

A wipeout for Kasthuri Rajamani.

She goes for 112kg this time, still trying to make her personal best but she hasn't been able to register a single lift at Glasgow 2026. The disappointments continue for India in powerlifting today.

Two reds for Kasthuri Rajamani to start off with. She has been attempting a personal best lift of 111kg but it's now quite worked out the way the Indian would have wanted. She still has one more attempt left but a medal seems quite far away now.

Jadumani Mandengbam aces the first round. Excellent first round for the southpaw from India, who is boxing in blue kit. Sharp left jabs from Jadumani doing too much damage.

All the judges score the first round in his favour.

But in the second round, despite having a slightly shaky round, where he slipped on the canvas, he managed to win unanimously.

He then sealed the final round to breeze into the last 16 in the men's 55kg event.

Here we go! India's first boxer, Jadumani, is in the ring in the men's 55kg event. Facing him in their round of 32 clash is Scotland's Cullen.

India are already assured of a medal in boxing thanks to Lovlina Borgohain.

SO in the women's lightweight category in para powerlifting, the Indian pair of Jaspreet Kaur and Suman Devi have ended out of the medal contention.

Jaspreet Kaur, with a body weight of 45.4kg, ends 6th with a best lift of 100kg with 96.4 points.

Suman Devi is seventh. Body weight of 56.9 kg and best lift of 100kg.

The top two medals were taken by a pair of Nigerian lifters, Esther Nworgu and Esther Oyema, while the bronze medal went to Olivia Broome.

Three nations have so far won medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games: England, Nigeria and Malaysia with only one para powerlifting event offering a medal so far.

here's what the medal's tally looks like:

Suman Devi lifts 100kg in para powerlifting. And she needs just the one effort to do it!

India win the first set by a 6-4 scoreline.

An incredible comeback from the team of Pinki Singh and Rupa Rani Tirkey who take down South Africa's Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui janse van Rensburg.

Five ends in each set. And two sets in a match. So we will have one more set.

Well quite the stunning comeback there by the South Africans Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui janse van Rensburg. They win a point from End 2, then two more to level it up at End 3. Another won at End 4 and suddenly, the South Africans are in the lead!

Pinki and Rupa have taken the first end of three sets 3-0. The second set will come next and the point difference in each set, in this case 3 in favour of India so far, counts to the point difference on the points table.

Para powerlifter Jaspreet Kaur is in action now, going for a 95 kg lift. And it's a superb lift. 3 green. It's her personal best. She is currently in the first position with 91.6 points

Pinki Singh and Rupa Rani Tirkey will be in action next for the Women’s Pairs Lawn Bowls event vs South Africa

Yogeshwar Singh is second on parallel bars with 12.750 while Tapan Mohanty is fourth with 12.700 .

Ashok, who is assured of a 4th placed finish will now attempt his best lift at 205 kg. But he is unsuccessful. He finishes 4th.

Parmjeet, currently in 7th, will now attempt to lift 179 kg again. But the referees are not satisfied as they give him three reds. He'll finish 7th.

Ashok back for his second attempt and he'll try and lift 200 kgs. And he does it. 2 green and 1 red. He has done brilliantly.

Parmjeet will now try and lift 179 kgs, 3 kgs up from from his last attempt. Lift is incomplete. Hard luck as it's 3 reds.

Ashok next and he is going for a lift of 195 kg and he is successful with 2 greens and a red from the refs.

The para powerlifters are here and Parmjeet Kumar is in action. 176 kg first attempt. And he succeeds. Two greens and a red. He is currently in the silver medal position

Para Powerlifters Ashok and Parmjeet Kumar is expected to be in action soon in a medal event in the men’s lightweight category.

Tapan Mohanty on the rings now. He fell off the handstand for a bit but recovers brilliantly during the landing. His score is 12.100for him. He's second as of now. Yogeshwar Singh finishes a little lower than Mohanty, bringing up a score of 11.500. Swatish., meanwhile, a score of 12.450 and takes the second place from Tapan. Tapeshwarnath gets 11.100.

A very stop-start performance from Tapeshwarnath Das. Has to halt his pommel routine once after losing steam. then in the second effort, he is doing great, until it comes time for his dismount, where he again has to hold himself steady before dismounting.

Swathish KP is the first gymnast from Kerala to compete in the Commonwealth Games. And he aces his pommel routine and walks off with a final flourish and a wide smile.

He scores 10.300.

A secure and smooth looking performance on the pommel horse from Yogeshwar Singh, one of India's premier gymnasts. But a slightly jerky dismount, even if he lands firmly on his feet.

He is given a score of 11.100. Difficulty score of 4.000 and execution score of 7.100.

So we have the Indian artistic gymnasts competing in subdivision 2. Yogeshwar Singh, Tapeshwarnath Das, Swathish KP, and Tapan Mohanty are here trying their luck.

Swimmer Kaylee McKeown, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, is out of the Commonwealth Games due to glandular fever.

The star backstroker won both the 100- and 200-meter distances at the Tokyo Olympics and repeated the feat at the Paris Games in 2024. She also won both events at the world championships in Singapore last year.

“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” McKeown said in a Swimming Australia statement Friday. “What I thought a few months ago was flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.

“I was sick going into trials and I have just not got better and I am worried about pushing myself so hard that I end up with chronic fatigue. It was a hard decision to make but the right one.”

The 24-year-old McKeown is planning to swim at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

(Via Associated Press)

India's day gets slightly better. Srihari Natraj, who was competing in the 50m backstroke event, has ended 5th in the fourth heat. But it's not the positioning that matters, it's his time. Since he is in one of the fastest heats, his time of 25.52 secs is enough for him to qualify for the next round.

He eventually finished a joint 14th in the heats on Friday. Nataraj is a two-time Olympian who holds multiple national records, clocking 25.52 seconds alongside Bermuda's Jack Harvey, just about making the semifinal start list, which comprises the top 16 from heats.

UPDATE: Srihari will compete in his 50m backstroke event at 12.29 am tonight.

According to a report from Press Trust of India, Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver-medallist judoka Tulika Maan has been withdrawn from the ongoing Glasgow edition after being handed a provisional suspension by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for three whereabouts failures in the last 12 months.

This is a big blow for India, because Maan is a silver winner in the +78kg category from the 2022 CWG edition, which made her one of the top contenders for a medal in Glasgow 2026 as well.

"She has committed three whereabouts failures in a 12-month period and NADA has sent notice to her. So, she will be withdrawn from the team," a judo coach told PTI on conditions of anonymity. On Thursday, another judoka, Arun Kumar (-73kg) was withdrawn for failing an out-of-competition dope test.

The Indian judo team has not yet left for the Games as its competition schedule will kick off on July 31.

In Para Swimming, we have had the men's 100m freestyle S13 event where two Indians, RVVBK Budigina and Ali Imam, were in competition. While Ali Iman ended 10th among the 10 competitors, Budigina ended third meaning that he will make it to the next round. Budigina finished behind Stephen Clegg and Nathan Hendricks.

Both of them, Budigina and Imam, will compete again for medals in the men's 100m event at midnight today.

The Press Trust of India reports that judoka Tulika Maan has been suspended by NADA for whereabouts failure and to miss Commonwealth Games. Big blow for India, who have already had two more athletes withdrawn for doping-related offences.

For the first time in the Commonwealth Games' history, medals that will be given to athletes will feature Braille and tactile elements, which held them become accessible to visually impaired athletes. At these Games, there are a record 47 gold medals across six Para sports -- the biggest Para programme at a Commonwealth Games. Overall, 215 gold medals will be on offer across 10 sports and six Para sports.

Australian swimmers competing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will earn up to Aus $50,000 (USD 35,000) for individual gold medals won in world record times under an incentive scheme funded by Gina Rinehart, the nation's richest person.

Swimmers in individual events will earn Aus $20,000 for gold, Aus $15,000 for silver and Aus $10,000 for bronze, while relay swimmers will earn between Aus $2,500 and Aus $5,000 for finishing ⁠on ​the medal podium. Swimmers clocking a world record will earn an Aus $30,000 bonus.

With Australia the most dominant swimming power by far in the Commonwealth, plenty of the team's top athletes will be expected to cash in ​at ​Glasgow.

"These bonuses are a way of Australia ⁠saying thank you and showing the appreciation our athletes deserve for bringing our country such a sense of ‌pride and achievement,” mining billionaire Rinehart said in a Swimming WA statement on Friday. “There is something very uplifting about seeing an Australian athlete stand on the podium while our flag is raised. Such exciting times make Australians proud and deserve to be celebrated."

(Via Reuters)

Reacting to the draw where Lovlina Borgohain got a bye into the semis, Santiago Nieva explianed that the draw was favourable to them in other ways.

"We’ve received the draw, and in Lovlina’s weight category there are five boxers. She has a favourable draw and will go directly into the semifinals, where she will face Tuvalu. They have sparred before in Belfast, and we’re confident that Lovlina is operating at a higher level. That said, she’s a tough opponent and a southpaw, so we need to be fully prepared and perform at our best. On paper, our main rivals England and Australia are on the other side of the draw and will face each other in the semifinals. While the draw is favourable for us, achieving our goal will require us to beat whoever comes our way."

So we are in holding pattern because the artistic gymnasts from India have been drawn in subdivision two. We have the male gymnasts in subdivision one currently competing. This means the Indian team of Tapeshwarnath Das, Swathish KP, Tapan Mohanty, and Yogeshwar Singh will perform their routines from 5 pm onwards.

Gymnastics holds its roots in Ancient Greece, where it was practised as part of fitness regimes, and was used as part of military training by various civilisations during antiquity. Though it largely fell out of favour beyond performance and entertainment, gymnastics began to reemerge for the purpose of military preparations during the 18th century.

Modern day gymnastics, in a sporting sense, is thought to have begun evolving during the late 18th century, with the German Friedrich Ludwig Jahn a hugely important figure often referred to as the father of gymnastics. He invented apparatus including the parallel bars, and created the first set of rules for group-based exercise. The sport began to spread and competitions arose, with Switzerland the first country to establish a national gymnastics federation in 1832. Many other countries followed suit and came together to found the European Gymnastics Union in 1881, which would eventually become the International Gymnastics Federation [FIG] 40 years later. The sport’s early history was restricted to men in competitive form, as women’s artistic gymnastics arrived later.

The sport was part of the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896 and has never left the programme.

2:30 pm onwards: Gymnastics - Tapeshwarnath Das, Swathish KP, Tapan Mohanty, and Yogeshwar Singh in men's team and individual rounds.

3:40 pm: Para Swimming - RVVBK Budigina, Ali Imam in men's 100m freestyle S13 followed by the final later in the night.

3:56 pm: Swimming - Srihari Nataraj in 50m backstroke heats followed by semifinals later in the day.

5:40 pm: Powerlifting - Ashok Kumar Malik and Parmjeet Kumar in the men's lightweight category (medal event).

7:24 pm: Powerlifting - Jaspreet Kaur and Suman Devi in the women's lightweight category (medal event).

7:30 pm: Lawn bowls - Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki vs. South Africa's Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui van Rensburg in the women's

pairs sectional round 2 match.

10 pm: Gymnastics - Men's team final (medal event).

10:30 pm: Lawn bowls - Putul Sonowal vs. Falkland Islands' Cecil Alexander in the men's singles sectional round 2 match.

10:40 pm: Powerlifting - Kasthuri Rajamani in the women's heavyweight category (medal event).

11 pm: Boxing - Jadumani Singh vs. Scotland's Aaron Cullen in men's 55 kg Round of 32 match.

12:00: Para Swimming - RVVBK Budigina, Ali Imam in men's 100m freestyle S13 final (if they qualify).

12:29 am: Swimming - Srihari Nataraj in 50m backstroke semifinals (if he qualifies).

12:29 am (July 25): Para Powerlifting - Jhandu Kumar and Sudhir in the men's heavyweight category (medal event).

Decoding the artistry of the artistic gymnastics.

Here's how the artistic gymnastics, a discipline that tests perfection and precision, event works: In the sport, women can compete across four apparatus, that is Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor Exercise. Meanwhile, men are eligible to contest in six apparatus: Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar.

There are two ways of scoring: difficulty and execution. Difficulty marks start from zero. Execution marks start from 10 and works downwards, with any deviation losing you points.

In gymnastics, we will have India's Tapeshwarnath Das, Swathish KP, Tapan Mohanty, and Yogeshwar Singh in action in the men's team and individual rounds.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second day of the Commonwealth Games from Glasgow where plenty of Indians are in action. Indian were already assured of a medal in boxing on day 1 thanks to the luck of the draw for Lovlina Borgohain.

Even before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games were declared open on Thursday, the Indian contingent suffered a setback after two of its medal prospects – one each in weightlifting and judo – were withdrawn following anti-doping rule violations.

Arun Kumar, a Judoka participating in the 78 kg category, was removed from the judo squad after he was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). Although judo team is yet to leave for Glasgow, India can’t name a replacement due to the competition rules.

Hours after Kumar’s suspension, it was revealed that another Indian athlete, weightlifter Dilbagh Singh, would return from Glasgow – although for no fault of his own. Indian weightlifting has reported five positive cases during the period of June 1, 2025, to July 22, 2026. Consequently, India’s athlete quota was slashed from 16 to 11.