Late in the night on Friday as fans were glued to their TV sets, the Indian matmen found a gold mine at the wrestling venue in Coventry Arena. They picked their best single-day haul of the Commonwealth Games with three gold, one silver and two bronze. The best part of the day was that every one of the six wrestlers on view in the six categories, three each in men and women, that were contested during the day, came back with a medal.

The three gold medallists for India were Bajrang Punia (65kg), picking his second gold and third CWG medal, Sakshi Malik (62kg) completing a set of three medals, one of each in three appearances at CWG and Deepak Punia (86kg) made his debut a golden one. Another CWG debutant Anshu Malik (57kg), one of the four wrestlers to enter the final on the first day, lost her final to Nigeria’s Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye.