New Delhi:
Eight gold medals are up for grabs on the first day of the Delhi Commonwealth Games with swimming offering five, weightlifting two and gymnastics one, on October 4.
The first gold medal will be decided in the weightlifting women event in 48kg category, scheduled to begin at 1400 hrs. India's Sandhya Rani Devi Atom and Ngangbam Soniya Chanu will represent India in the event.
The second gold medal will be decided in the 56kg category in the men's event, scheduled for 1830 hrs, with India's Sukhen Dey and Srinivasa Rao Valluri in the ring.
Out of five gold medals in swimming, two are on offer in women's category -- 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.
Men's will compete in 400m Freestyle Men Finals, 200m Butterfly Men Finals and 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay.
The last gold medal of the day will be awarded in gymnastics in Team Competition & Individual Qualification Men Subdivision 2.
Of the three events, Indian eyes will be on weightlifting event as it has been one of the biggest contributors in the medal tally for the country in the past few Games.
From 1990 to 2002, weightlifting contributed to nearly half of India's medal tally, bagging 24 medals for India in 1990, while in 1994 and 1998 Games, it gave the country 11 and 13 medals, respectively.
Its biggest medal haul came in 2002 Manchester Games when Indian weightlifters won as many as 27 medals, including 11 gold, nine silver and seven bronze out of the country's overall tally of 69 medals.
However, 2006 Melbourne Games were disappointing where the weightlifting team managed just nine medals -- three gold, five silver and a bronze.
The weightlifting team for the Games include defending champion in women's 58kg Renubala Chanu, K Ravi Kumar (men's 69 kg) and Soniya Chanu (women's 48kg).
Melbourne Games silver-medallist L Monika Devi is making a comeback after competing a two-year ban for doping.