A Jamaican man won the blue-ribbon 100 on the track Thursday night, even in the absence of world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Asafa Powell.

Lerone Clarke took gold in 10.12 seconds, with Mark Lewis-Francis of England taking silver in 10.20 and Aaron Armstrong of Trinidad and Tobago placing third in 10.24.

“I know I am fast, even if Usain Bolt is not here,” Clarke said. “I am still here and I am part of the Jamaican team.” Australia's Sally Pearson, the 2008 Olympic 100-meter hurdles silver medalist, crossed first in the women's 100 in 11.28 seconds after much confusion over a false start.

Pearson and England's Laura Turner appeared to false start. Turner was given a red card in lane 4, but insisted on racing under protest - contrary to the rules. Osayemi Oludamola of Nigeria was second in 11.32, and Natasha Mayers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines crossed third in 11.37.

“I got the best start of my life and I made use of it,” Pearson said. The result remained under protest, however, and no decision was expected overnight.

Even with that drama, the focus of the day was on the pool.

The British media reported that 20 percent of the England swim squad had been ill with a stomach virus. Australia confirmed at least “half a dozen” of its swimmers had been sick.

There were inferences that the warm-up pool was the common cause, but organizers were quick to assure teams that the water had been tested and the quality meet competition standards. Swimmers, including five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe - in New Delhi as a commentator for the BBC - played down any chance the pool water was a factor, saying the chlorine killed off the threat.

England's team management issued a statement saying eight percent of the 541 people in its delegation - that's 43 people - had experienced some kind of mild stomach problems over the previous 28 days, which was lower than had been anticipated. Swim team spokesman Dave Richardson said the ratio of swimmers falling ill hadn't been any higher than other sports, adding that no swimmer had missed competition.

Regardless, it was still another negative connotation for an event that has been plagued with problems including long delays in venue construction, allegations of corruption and mismanagement and concerns over health and security amid a myriad of glitches.

In the wake of all that, the aquatics program continued.

Adlington, who won the 400 and 800 freestyle gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, held off South Africa's Wendy Trott over the last two laps to win the 800 in 8 minutes, 24.69 seconds.

Alicia Coutts of Australia won her third individual gold of the games, adding the 100 butterfly title to her previous golds in the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle.

South Africans Chad le Clos and Natalie du Toit won the 400 IM and the Paralympic 100 S9 event respectively, each giving them two golds for the games.

Brent Hayden gave Canada another gold medal with victory in the 100 freestyle in 47.98 seconds. Simon Burnett of England was second in 48.54, while pre-race favorite and fastest qualifier Eamon Sullivan of Australia took the bronze in 48.69.

Hayden said he, too, had been affected by a stomach bug.

“My Delhi belly's a little better today, I'm almost over it,” Hayden said. “It's happening to everybody in all sports, it's a place we're not used to. If you can be comfortable being uncomfortable, that's great.” Canada continued its unbeaten streak in synchronized swimming at the Commonwealth Games when Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon won the solo competition, then teamed with Chloe Isaac to win the duet.

Canada has never lost a synchro swim competition at the Commonwealth Games, winning 13 gold medals in 13 events since 1986.

“It's my last chance to get a gold medal (before retirement), so I am really happy that I did well,” Boudreau-Gagnon, who had 95.334 points, said after her solo win.

Australia has dominated the velodrome in New Delhi, sweeping the four gold medals Thursday to lift its track cycling tally to 10 of the 11 awarded so far.

World and Olympic champion cyclist Anna Meares won the women's sprint for her third gold medal of the meet, while her teenage teammate Megan Dunn collected her second by winning the 10-kilometer scratch race.

The Australian quartet also won the men's team pursuit, defeating New Zealand, and Shane Perkins won the men's sprint.

Australia maintained top place on the medal standings, followed by India and England. Canada gained ground with nine gold medals on day four of competition.

Meanwhile, India's medals tally at the Commonwealth Games mounted to 33 as the shooters continued to shine and women archers and wrestlers contributed their share and a gymnast won the first-ever Games medal Thursday.

The women's table tennis team entered the maiden final at the Games, but there was much heartbreak after the men's hockey side was decimated 2-5 by Australia, behind whom India continued to be second in the medal count.

India's shooters bagged two golds and a silver, women wrestlers their first medals on debut in the Games - a gold, a silver and a bronze - and archers, too, won their first Games medals, a silver and a bronze, taking the gold tally to 14 on the fourth day of the competition here Thursday.

Top-seeded Somdev Devvarman beat sixth ranked Rubin Statham of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the men's singles tennis semifinals.

Second-seeded Sania Mirza moved into the women's semifinals, beating eighth-seeded New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-3, but crashed out of the mixed doubles event pairing Leander Paes by going down to Scotland's Jocelyn Rae and Colin Fleming 5-7, 4-6 in the quarterfinals.

India also moved into the semifinals of the badminton mixed team event, blanking Canada 3-0. They now meet England, who had beaten them for the silver at Melbourne four years ago.

Indian shooters Vijay Kumar and Gurpreet Singh brought the country its sixth gold from the range by winning the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol pairs event with a new Commonwealth Games record here Thursday.

Kumar (587) and Singh (575) shot a cumulative total of 1,162 to win the yellow metal ahead of Malaysia and Australia at the Karni Singh Shooting Range.

The Indians broke the Games record of 1,134 by a huge margin. That was set by Vijay Kumar and Pemba Tamang at the 2006 Melbourne Games.

Indian shooters Omkar Singh and Gurpreet Singh won the gold in the men's 10-meter air pistol pairs event while Ronjon Sodhi won the silver in the double trap shooting event.

But there was bad news for the hosts in the women's 50-meter rifle three position contest as Tejaswani finished ninth. Only the top eight shooters qualified for the finals. Tejaswani's compatriot Lajja Gauswami, who made it to the final, took the sixth place returning a score of 666.8 (570 in qualifying, 96.8 in final).

Indian women opened their gold account in freestyle wrestling, Geeta winning the 55kg gold, Nirmala Devi the 48 kg silver and Suman Kundu the 63 kg bronze.

The Indian men's archery team of Ritul Chatterjee, Jignas Chittibomo and Chinna Raju Srither went down to England to settle for the silver in the compound event.

The match went down to the wire with England beating India 231-229 to win their second archery gold of the Games.

Earlier, the trio of Gagandeep Kaur, Jhano Hansdah and Bheigyabati Chanu bagged an unexpected bronze in the women's compound team event, country's first archery medal in the Games.

The hosts defeated Malaysia 223-219 in the bronze play-off at the Yamuna Sports complex here. Eventual silver medalist Canada beat India in the semifinals by a seven-point difference with the final scoreline reading 224-217. England won the gold.

Archery has returned to the Games after 28 years.

The Indian women's table tennis team outclassed fancied England to reach their maiden final at the Commonwealth Games and assured themselves of a medal.

The Indians blanked the second seed England 3-0 in what turned out be a one-sided affair at a packed show court of the Yamuna Sports Complex.

On the flip side, World champions Australia scored an emphatic 5-2 win over India in a Pool A men's hockey match at the overflowing Major Dhyan Chand Stadium.

India had no answer to Australia's superior fitness and slick teamwork that was more pronounced in the second half when the reigning Commonwealth champions hammered three of their five goals in a 10-minute spell.

The victory, their second in a row, took Australia to six points while India remained on three from their 3-2 win against Malaysia on Tuesday.