GLASGOW: Vikas Gowda gave India its first athletics gold medal of the 20th Commonwealth Games by winning the men’s discuss throw event on Friday.

The 31-year-old US-based Indian pocketed the gold with an effort of 63.64m, way below his personal best effort of 66.28m, under incessant rain at the Hampden Park.

The silver went to Apostolos Parellis of Cyprus who threw the discuss to 63.32m, while the bronze was bagged by Jason Morgan of Jamaica with an effort of 62.34m.

Botswana’s Nijel Amos produced a stunning late surge to land the 800 meters gold medal and shock Olympic champion David Rudisha.

Amos, who took silver behind Rudisha at London 2012, looked to be boxed in as the Kenyan led on the final straight but found a burst of pace in the last 50 meters to win in one minute 45.18 seconds.

Rudisha, who broke the world record on his way to Olympic gold, took silver with South African Andre Olivier snatching bronze on a wet night in Glasgow.

Nigeria teenager Chika Amalaha has been stripped of her weightlifting gold medal after failing a doping test, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) said on Friday.

The 16-year-old, who won gold in the women’s women’s 53kg competition, provided positive ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples that contained prohibited diuretics and masking agents.

“The Commonwealth Games Federation has determined that Nigerian weightlifter, Chika Amalaha, has committed an anti-doping rule violation and has fully suspended her from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,” the CGF said in a statement.

“As a result, Ms Amalaha has been disqualified from her event at the Games, with her result in the Women’s Weightlifting 53 kilogram competition nullified.” Dika Toua from Papua New Guinea has been awarded the gold medal with Indian duo Santoshi Matsa and Swati Singh claiming silver and bronze.

Host nation Scotland’s gold medal tally hit double figures on Friday as sprint legend Usain Bolt and British teenage diving star Tom Daley prepared to make their eagerly anticipated Commonwealth Games entrances.

Scotland claimed their 11th title in Glasgow courtesy of their lawn bowls men’s fours and gymnast Daniel Purvis in the men’s parallel bars.

In the pool, Jack Laugher and Chris Mears beat Australia’s Grant Nel and Matthew Mitcham in the men’s synchronized 3m springboard for England’s 45th gold.

Australia cruised into the gold medal match of the women’s hockey with a 7-1 mauling of South Africa.

The Hockeyroos will face England, who beat New Zealand on penalties, in Saturday’s final.

Winners of the gold medal in three of the four competitions since hockey was introduced to the Commonwealth program, Australia have now scored 32 goals in winning their five games in Glasgow so far.

Singapore are guaranteed gold and silver medals in the women’s table tennis after Lay Jian Fang failed in her attempt to break their stranglehold.

The Australian 42-year-old’s old fashioned “penhold” style could not get the better of second seed Yu Mengyu who won quite comfortably 11-3, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6.

Yu faces her compatriot and world number four Feng Tianwei in the final later Friday.

But there was an upset in the men’s doubles semi-finals as Indian pairing Sharath Kamal and Anthony Arputharaj put out second seeds Yang Zi and Zhan Jian from Singapore to spark wild scenes of celebration.

Despite that loss, the dominant nation in this sport at this Games are still represented in the final after top seeds Li Hun and Gao Ning beat England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford.

James Willstrop, England’s losing men’s singles finalist, kept alive his hopes of another medal after a closely-fought victory over New Zealanders Lance Beddoes and Paul Coll with partner Daryl Selby.

The English third seeds needed 68 minutes to win an exciting quarterfinal 11-8, 6-11, 11-9 to make the last four as the doubles events progressed toward the final stages on Friday.

The evening spotlight is split between the pool, where English diver Daley teams up with James Denny in the men’s synchronized 10m platform, and on the track, where Bolt runs in the 4x100m relay heats.

The Jamaican superstar opted out of the 100m and 200m, won by Jamaican teammates Kemar Bailey-Cole and Rasheed Dwyer respectively.

Olympic champion Sally Pearson goes for the 100m hurdles title while world champion Eunice Sum will be favorite in the women’s 800m.

Kenyan dominance is likely to come in the men’s 3000m steeplechase where double Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi is chasing a second Commonwealth gold eight years on from his success at Melbourne 2006.

Ugandan Moses Kipsiro is back to try and defend his 10,000m title, having already lost his 5,000m title earlier in the Games.