Commonwealth Games 2014: Seema Punia wins silver in discus throw; Krishna Poonia finishes fifth

Seema Punia, Dani Samuels and Jade Lally pose with their medals

Glasgow, Aug 2 (IANS) Indian discus thrower Seema Punia won the silver medal with her season's best performance, while her compatriot and defending champion Krishna Poonia finished a disappointing fifth at the Commonwealth Games on Friday. It was the second medal for India from track and field, a day after men's discus thrower Vikas Gowda won the historic gold at the Hampden Park Stadium.

Seema hurled the disc to 61.61 metres to win the silver. She had won the bronze in the 2010 Games where India clinched all the three medals from the event. Seema had won silver in the 2006 Melbourne Games.

The gold went to 2009 World Champion Dani Samuels of Australia and England's Jade Lally took the bronze. Samuels, who had skipped the Delhi Games citing security reasons, was no where near her personal best of 67.99m, but a throw of 64.88m was enough to seal the gold. English girl Jade got the bronze with her season's best of 60.48m.

The 2010 Delhi Games' champion Krishna was struggling right from the start and barely managed to make the cut for the final round, finishing a lowly 11th among the top-12. Krishna finished fifth in the final with a throw of 57.84m.